Another Way Out Of The Darkness
by magentacr
Summary: What his enemies often forgot while facing Khan Noonien Singh, was that he was not simply a warrior, but a strategist. When awoken in the 24th Century by Admiral Marcus, he made plans, not all of which were foiled by James T Kirk. One still lived on, one that could bring them all out of the darkness. Khan/Kati
1. The Old Hiding Places Remain The Best

_AN: Disclaimer - I do not own any of the characters in this fanfiction, I only borrow them. No copyright infringement intended._

 _A word from the author to follow chapter. Enjoy. :)_

* * *

 **Chapter 1 - The Old Hiding Places Remain The Best**

Her hands were clammy and her shoes were gratingly loud as she paced restlessly in front of the courtroom doors. She kept telling herself she should not be nervous; she was an augment, a being superior in every way to each and every person on the other side. They couldn't deny her intellect, her thorough research, her unmatched experience on the matter. But _they_ didn't know that. And for all her superiority, her life, and the lives of her 72 brothers and sisters entrusted to her, was soon to be completely in the hands of a bunch of inferior, ignorant humans, with seemingly every reason to be distrustful and hateful of her kind; from events both past and present.

It was her job to change that. Or at least that was the task she had set herself, she could only hope it was in sync with her prince's plans. Lord Khan's instructions had been vague and rushed, as that was all their situations could allow. She was the cavalry, a backup to his own complex schemes, should anything go wrong; and it was quite clear things had, in the most spectacular and disastrous fashion. His actions had branded him such a dangerous individual that rather than being simply imprisoned pending trial, he had been sent back to cryogenic sleep once more, and as such couldn't advise her on their next steps.

Part of her wanted to believe it was his faith in her own initiative and ability to fix this that allowed his extreme behaviour, but augments weren't in the habit of lying to themselves; it was an inferior trait. In reality she doubted he'd thought of her at all during his catastrophic return to earth. She had read the reports and knew of the cruel trick played on him by the crew of the Enterprise, she could imagine perfectly well the strength of his grief and his rage as his future crumbled before him. She had little doubt he hadn't planned on surviving the ship's crash, or the retribution of the vengeful Vulcan. He hadn't intended for her to have such a daunting job ahead of her defending her fellow augments because he hadn't believed there would be any survivors left to defend. And yet there were, every single one of them was safe, sleeping on in their cryogenic tubes. She could not fail them, or their prince now.

* * *

 _18 months earlier_

Consciousness returned with a trickle of warmth through her veins, from her chest out towards her fingers and toes. One of the first essential functions of her body made itself known in the form of the large involuntary gasp for oxygen she took to fill her empty lungs. Years of battle-trained instincts rose to the front of her mind, and she snapped open her eyes as soon as she was able, trying to take stock of her environment. Outside of the view-window of her pod was dark save for the slightly blue artificial glow she assumed came from the other pods. Her own continued its awakening process, and there was a slight hiss as the hermetic seal was released and the lid started to slide down. Immediately she heard two things that put her on high alert. The first was the lack of the engine humming that told her they were no longer aboard the SS Botany Bay. The second was far more pressing; an alarmed female cry from her right and unholstering of a weapon.

"What the-"

The shout was cut off with a thud, a cry, the sound of some kind of weapon being fired, and the far heavier _whump_ of a body hitting the floor. In one lithe move she leapt out of her pod and into a fighting stance as she searched for the attacker. She soon realised she had nothing to fear however, as she saw and recognised the room's only other occupant.

"Khan, my Lord." She dropped her fighting stance, instead bowing her head to her prince.

"Kati." He acknowledged with a nod. The name rang through her with an odd dissonance, the feeling that she had not heard that name in a long time, and yet had heard it as though yesterday. She knew it was simply the lingering effects of waking from cryosleep, and shook the feeling off as he continued speaking. "We have little time. Get undressed, you will switch clothes with this one and she will take your place in the pod."

Immediately Kati complied with his order, feeling no self-consciousness in removing her clothes in front of him, as he laid down the weapon and started removing those of the unconscious woman. Once changed, she helped lift the body into the pod and stood by as he reactivated it. Finally he passed her the phaser to holster it. Before she did, she looked it over: the curving design and technology itself were unfamiliar to her, prompting her to wonder how long she had been asleep.

"It's only set to stun. You shouldn't need to use it." Was his only explanation. He looked about the room, and then over her apparel, before giving a nod of satisfaction and heading for the door of the room. "You are my security escort, keep close behind me and pay no heed to anyone else unless directly addressed until we get to my rooms."

Without awaiting any answer he set off, and she fell in behind him as she always had. As familiar as the action felt however, their surroundings were far from familiar. Keeping her eyes forward on Khan's back, she used her periphery vision to take in as much as she could as they marched down white washed corridors, past laboratory doors, through grey and greasy engineering pits, full of sleek machines unlike any she had ever seen. This was clearly some kind of military complex devoted to scientific research, but it wasn't like any she'd ever been in before, and like all augments, she had spent far too much time in such a facility. Sliding doors hid most of its secrets, but one of the most immediate noticeable differences were in the people themselves, some of whom clearly were not human. Whether they simply augmented to a greater degree than herself and her companion, or completely alien she was unsure, though the later seemed more likely as she beheld a woman with huge eyes set in a smaller, more angular head, walking by. Moments later, a pale, bald man, almost a foot taller than even her companion overtook them and turned away into one of the rooms they passed, supplementing her theory.

They took an elevator up to a more deserted floor, which she assumed were the living quarters. Khan led the way down two more gleaming corridors, before stopping outside one of doors and inputting a code into a panel to the side of it. If it wasn't for her superhuman hearing she probably would have missed his low muttered words as he did so.

"Remain by the door until the next guard comes by to relieve you. Then take the next left and two doors down you will find an unlocked cupboard with a maintenance hatch in the back. Follow the shafts back to these rooms. I already took the liberty of sweeping them for surveillance bugs this morning, but should you find anything else, do bring it along for my inspection."

Into the room he disappeared, and she took up her position guarding the door. The wait gave her a much needed chance to process all she had seen so far. Two things were clear: The first was that their attempt to escape earth on the SS Botany Bay had somehow failed. The cryosleep was supposed to last only a year, enough time for the shuttle to reach deep space, when they would awake and start their search for a new world. So either their shuttle was captured, or had malfunctioned somehow, as even without stepping outside she was sure deep in her bones that this was earth, but that many years had passed, not just one. Was it decades, or centuries? She couldn't tell, but she felt it was important.

The other was that Khan Noonien Singh was not a free man on this brave new world. The guard she played had not been one of his own, rather one set on him. It made her anxious to think that anyone could hold power over the Warlord she knew, but this well-planned rescue of her from her pod reassured her that he had a plan, and surely they would all be free soon enough. It went without saying that she would do everything he needed from her in execution of this plan.

The next guard arrived, giving her a nod but saying nothing. Nodding back, she moved aside for him to take her place, then walked away without looking back, in the direction Khan had told her. She found the cupboard as he described it, with the maintenance hatch askew, allowing her to move it aside. Peering in, she found only a narrow duct, around a meter squared, running straight up before branching out above, presumably to all the rooms. It was a squeeze to get in and crouch down to pull the hatch back into place, but she was flexible enough. The hatch however seemed to firmly seal itself as she pulled it into position, some kind of electromagnetic sealing system she supposed, but for her it meant no turning back.

It was no problem at all for her to jump straight up the duct above her, grasp the ledge and pull herself up into the right duct. Up here, a strong air current rushed past, as the ventilation systems did their job, though her ears couldn't detect the soft _whump-whump_ of a fan coming from anywhere. She crawled along in the same direction of the current, passing over vents and catching glimpses of the rooms below: same sterile white decor, same soft lighting coming from wall panel lights, the only differences lay in the occupants. Yet despite their varied appearances, something human still remained in the forms of leisure they sought in their down time: each room boasted plenty of screens, on the walls and on tablet computers. One room even had some sort of chess set, though it seemed a new third dimension had been added to the game via platforms. But she would have known Khan's room when she saw it, even if her internal compass didn't tell her it was so. The white tiled floor had been mostly covered by a large, red-hued, Persian rug; a comfort he had acquired a taste for during their time ruling over a large portion of the eastern continents. As well as this, a large portion of the wall was covered by a large shelving unit, completely filled with books, looking old and worn, but cared for none-the-less. She could see Khan himself lounging on the sofa, which was facing away from her, though even in repose he always looked alert, ready to leap into action in a split-second. He didn't look up, but she suspected he knew she was there, and was simply waiting for her to enter.

Kati reached out to try and push the panel, but her hand hesitated centimetres from it. There was a node on the edge of it which hadn't been on the other vents. Her hand went to this instead, wrapping her fingers completely around it to obscure any kind of camera, and with little strength broke it away. Keeping it wrapped tightly in one hand, she used the other to push on the vent in an attempt to open it. But like the other end, it was sealed tight somehow, and it resisted, though she pushed as hard as she dared without breaking it. Taking her hand away to approach it differently, she noticed the tiniest bit of give as she released it. That was all she needed to tell her what she needed to do. She slid her fingers through the gaps in the vents and, getting enough of a grip, pulled it inwards just slightly, then released it, and the whole panel fell. Before it could clatter to the ground however, Khan had already whipped around, his arm sticking over he back of the sofa to catch it. Getting up, he laid the detached panel on the coffee table and walked around the sofa, coming to a stop before Kati as she dropped down and looking at her expectantly.

Without a word Kati held out the hand still wrapped around the device she found in the vent. He took it from her, both careful not to uncover it, and with the slightest flex of his muscles he crushed it in his hand. Only then did a smile break out on his face.

"Well done." He commended, before walking away and opening a hatch in what she had to assume was the kitchen of the small apartment. Dropping the mangled device inside he continued, "It seems they wasted no time is restoring their surveillance on me though, we should make this brief. Tell me what you have gathered about our situation." He opened another which appeared to be a simple cupboard - or perhaps refrigerator, it was hard to tell - and drew out a bottle of water which he threw to her.

Kati opened the bottle and took a sip before answering, relishing the taste of water far more than she expected, remembering that she had been so long without.

"We are on earth still. A long time has passed since we tried to leave. You're being held captive by … someone." She succinctly summarised her suspicions.

"306 years, to be precise, have passed since our attempt to escape this planet. Our systems malfunctioned, all emergency backup power was rerouted to the pods and we were left to float in space for centuries, until we were discovered and brought back here by an organisation known as _Starfleet_." Khan explained, taking his seat one more on the sofa and directing Kati with his eyes to a nearby armchair.

"And they made you a prisoner?"

"Not the organisation as a whole, for the most part they are unaware of my presence. Just the one man, though he is an Admiral with them, and therefore holds much power. He wouldn't call me a prisoner though, more a reluctant ally. I have a measure of freedom, and comforts." He waved a hand at his surroundings, "So long as I play by his rules and help him in his goals."

"And his goals are?" Kati asked with some trepidation.

"War." Khan announced darkly, "On a scale this planet hasn't seen in… well, 300 years. That's why he needs me, or my mind rather."

His displeasure was palpable, and echoed in Kati's own thoughts. Despite what many believed, Khan and those who followed him took no pleasure in war, on the contrary, they longed for peace. They were brilliant warriors by design, but they fought to eradicate it. Not all of the Augments had felt the same; the circumstances they had been raised under, the training drilled into them had had a polarising effect on their kind. But those who survived the Eugenics wars, who had followed Khan aboard the Botany Bay had believed wholeheartedly in the calm after the storm. She knew it must rankle her Prince to be asked to help create that which he hated.

"And if you don't?" She had to ask, to know what they were up against.

"I was allowed to see the pods today as a reward for 3 months good behaviour. They are on site for 24 hours and then will be once more removed from my reach." His fists slowly flexed and clenched on his knees, a controlled reaction she knew. "If I do not comply with Marcus's wishes, he has made it clear our family will pay with their lives. I took a huge risk freeing you. But I think, we shall be safe. The extreme secrecy of this sector of Starfleet has it's uses; no one will be asking what happened to the guard whom we froze in your place." A sinisterly satisfied smile crept up his face.

"You have a plan to extract the rest? You cannot intend to bring us back one by one, the increased odds of detection-"

"Make it impossible to save them all." He finished for her. "I am aware, and I will not take that risk. Besides, it would be too slow. I have another plan, though it will take some time, but it will return all our people to us. Until then, we are on our own."

Kati had suspected that was the case, and showed no outward sign of surprise, though internally she marvelled that he had chosen to wake her, of all the others. She had no doubt she was chosen; it was not like Khan to chose anything at random, and she bore no closer resemblance to the guard than several other of the female augments, and the guard who had relieved her could have been a fitting replacement for some of the males. Joaquin had always been Khan's right hand man, and so she could only conclude that if he was still asleep, and she was here, that Khan must have some very specific purpose in mind for her.

"What do you need me to do?" She asked in full preparedness to follow to the letter.

"What we neglected to do in our last lifetime." Khan answered cryptically. He eased up from the chair, pacing the rug as he explained. "Our people are perfect warriors, we fought well in the eugenic wars, and we came out victorious. But we were not prepared for what the humans had in store for us afterwards, their so called ' _justice_.' They called us _criminals_ , for all we had done for them." His teeth were gritted with the emotion of it, and his fists tight. Even after 3 months in this new world it still festered in him, but for Kati the sting was still fresh, it being but days ago to her mind.

They hadn't even had time to wash off the blood and sweat from their final skirmish against those those once called brothers. Returning triumphant to their keep, the humans had been waiting for them - The humans they had bled to save! The were surrounded, the numbers against them far to great for even their strength, and told that they were to be tried as criminals, and if they came quietly it would be better for them. The betrayal burned hot and sour in her gut, singing in her blood for a violent answer, despite the overwhelming odds. She knew her brothers and sisters felt the same, she could feel it in the air, they all but waited on their lords answer, as the humans waited on theirs.

She still remembered the look in Khan's eyes as they met hers, met each and every one of theirs, weighing up the matter. He turned away, signalling them to hold their position as he stepped forward, causing the humans to ripple back in fear. Then came the shock like a bucket of ice-water quenching the fire, as he presented his hands to them to be cuffed, keeping his princely manner all the while. One look from him had the rest of them surrendering too, and they were led away, locked away in their own keep pending the trial. That night they were all silent and morose, but she had seen Khan staring out the window away at the stars, and could swear she saw hope in his eyes.

The trial was a farce. They stood lined up and bound, not given a chance to defend themselves as they were condemned simply for being alive, after human augmentation experimentation had been outlawed, as if they had had any say in the manner of their creation. They were accused of attempted genocide, and every action, every hard decision they had made in war was ripped apart in search of evidence against them. Despite their promise of leniency, the human hadn't hesitated to condemn each and every one of them to death, for their supposed crimes.

It was then, at the announcement of their sentence, that Khan said ' **No** '. He needn't say any more, as at his word his augmented brothers and sisters rose up around him, breaking their bonds and fighting their way to freedom. There had been far less resistance than the previous day, but they still lost 5 good people in their escape, though each loss served to spur them on more. Finally they broke away, and then they ran, fast and hard to throw off any pursuit. Khan lead them to the facility housing the experimental deep-space vessel, the SS Botany Bay, complete with 80 cryopods. They met no resistance as they commandeered it, and made their escape off planet.

And now here they were, 300 years in what felt like the blink of an eye, and they were once again prisoners, and pawns in the humans' endless wars. So Kati didn't need reminding what the humans and their 'justice' had done to them; it still burned in her blood. But like everything he did, Khan had a purpose in bringing it up, and he got around to it now, stopping his pacing to stand before her, pulling all her focus upon him.

"Times have moved on, and though Marcus may wish for war, the rest of the planet - or federation of planets as it has become - lean far more heavily than ever upon diplomacy to accomplish their purposes. This is what we must have a defence prepared for. The creation of augmented beings is still prohibited, but perhaps in this age they will be more willing to accept that those of us already transformed should have a right to our lives. Time and history may have painted us black, but history is told by the survivors, and that now falls to us. I will remain here and prepare to free our people from Admiral Marcus, but you must get out there and prepare to free us from anyone who tries to imprison us again."

Kati sucked in a breath after his speech, inspired by his words, yet feeling the supreme weight of the task settle onto her shoulders like Atlas's burden.

"How?" She asked, not knowing where to start with such a mission.

Khan answered by turning away, going to the bookshelf and pulling out a large volume. Opening it up, she saw that many of the pages had been cutout for a hiding space, from which he extracted some papers and a tablet computer.

"So few books remain on this world, it almost pained me to have to destroy this one. But the old hiding places remain the best, I find." He mused, handing the contraband over to Kati, "Your new name is Kathryn Lukas, you are about to start as a law student at Kings College here in London. I've already put you in the system, when you arrive they will have accommodations for you. Study hard, but don't draw attention to yourself. Make allies where possible, but don't get too close. Be ready for when I need you."

Kati listened to his instructions carefully, while examining the supplies she had been given.

"There is no money in here?" She queried.

A smile of begrudging respect turned up the corners of Khan's mouth, as he replaced the book and walked over now to a chest of drawers "The humans have moved beyond money. They work for work's sake, and everyone is given what they require. There is a credit system, and you can earn extra credits for spending on extravagances, pleasures… but the credits society provides you with should be more than enough for your needs. I know, it sounds a lot to take in, but you will understand soon enough when you get out there. Here, change into these, and I'll dispose of that uniform." He added, passing over some new clothes.

"You said _here_ in London, will it be possible for me to reach you, or will I be on my own?" Kati asked as she swiftly changed into the form-fitting tunic and leggings ensemble, that she assumed was typical of modern fashion. Either way she could manage, but she needed to know where she stood. Khan considered this for a moment, looking past her rather than at her as she dressed.

"As I said, I do have a degree of freedom, which does include freedom to come and go from the facility, though I have rarely taken up on it; there's not much for me out there and Marcus knows it. But there is a bar, across the street, called Saturn Five. _If you need me_ , look for me there on a Friday night. Otherwise, you must walk your path alone."

He walked her back over to under the vent when she was done, and despite the fact she could get up alone, cupped his hands to give her a boost up into the duct.

"There is a public archive six floors up, with access to the street." He called up after her. "Until we meet again, have strength my sister."

"My lord." Kati gave a bow of her head, and slipped away, hearing him close the vent behind her.

* * *

 _AN: Hi guys! So anyone who's read any of my previous stories before will probably realise that I'm stepping way outside of my comfort zone on this one. But that's okay, because I recently read a quote from Benedict Cumberbatch saying stepping outside of your comfort zone is the most fun you can have, and so I'm trusting him on this. Another way I am stepping out of my comfort zone than just writing something other than Sherlock is that I haven't written tons in advance, I only have a loose plan on where I'm going, so my updates aren't going to be as regular and scheduled as usual. I just hope I can keep it up, not make a huge mess of it, and actually reach the end._

 _Feedback would be MASSIVELY appreciated, I'm going to need the reassurance, so just pop into the reviews, let me know that you're reading and what you think, okay? And thanks already for reading this far._


	2. Act Like You Belong

**Chapter 2 - Act Like You Belong**

The public archive that Kati next emerged in was a place she instantly knew she would like. Khan had said not many books remained on this world, but there were shelves full of them here, as well as document folders, maps and atlases. Far more information was available electronically, digital drives full of information sitting waiting to be accessed. A clock on the wall informed her that it was only 18:27, and though she didn't really want to get to the University too late (who knew how long travel would take her in this world) she reasoned she could afford just a little while gathering information about this time to prepare herself before stepping out into it.

Where to begin though? She had some 300 years of history to catch up on, she would need at least a basic understanding of modern customs and culture, a little knowledge about the layout of the city she was in the midst of in order to find her way about, and the axiom of 'know thy enemy' rang out in the back of her mind, demanding she find out a little more about those organisations Khan had mentioned; The Federation of planets and Starfleet. Deciding there would be time enough for that once she reached the school, she delved first into the atlases and maps, to get the lay of the land.

Thirty minutes later, stepping out into the bright light and noise of the bustling city, she realised no amount of study could possibly have prepared her for the culture-shock of this new world. Flat maps could not prepare her for the multi-levelled roads, travelled upon by hovering cars, and the sight of ships and shuttles flying past following no visible road at all, though swooping effortlessly around the towering buildings and skyscrapers. Lowering her gaze to street-level, she noticed the bar Khan had promised across the road, but also the people rushing past. London had always been a mixing-pot of different cultures and peoples from this planet, now though it boasted a mixed race from other planets too, though it could be said there was less variety in terms of class; no beggars or princes here, without money, all were equal.

But the biggest, most notable difference to Kati, was the peace. She had been to London only a few times in her life, and it had been at the height of war. She remembered the buildings aflame, the streets soaked with blood, the air filled with cries and gunfire. Shaking off the memories, she had to marvel at the new heights the city had risen to out of the ashes. It was a thing of beauty, a utopia far greater than any of them had dared dream, and a privilege to witness. She felt another bite of hatred for the man who held the rest of their family hostage, for his desire to destroy that peace. He had no idea,

But she couldn't stand here and marvel all day. It was essential for her to blend in, and the first rule of espionage was to act like you belong. She turned down the street, matching her pace to the rest of the pedestrians around her; a purposeful stride, just short of rushing. Her research had told her that the old tube lines were still the main form of public transport in the city, though like everything else, it had received quite an upgrade in the time she was away. Descending at the nearest station she was soon inside the express transport, and reached her destination within a few minutes.

The campus building was old, far older than the rest of the city, and she wondered if it was an original from before the war, or just a good restoration. She climbed the steps up to the front, past a group of chattering, laughing students, and inside. There was a large desk front and centre in the reception hall, and it was occupied by an older lady, human by the looks of her, busy on the phone. Kati hesitated to go up to her, not wanting to interrupt, and was saved the trouble as she spotted a sign hanging from the front of the desk, reading 'new students' with an arrow pointing down the hall to the right. She followed another sign into a classroom, where a boy and a girl (Kati assumed she was female, the tail threw her a little) of about 20 were lounging and chatting at a desk full of fliers and adverts on datapads.

"Oh, hey there!" The girl smiled, spotting Kati hovering just inside the doorway. "See David, told you we might get another. Don't be shy, come on up, tell us your name and what you're studying, and we'll see if we can help point you in the direction you need to go."

Kati frowned slightly at being called 'shy', it was an inferior trait, not at all appropriate for an augment, but she supposed it was just the culture-shock holding her back, and if people mistook it for shyness, that wouldn't be the worst thing. Deciding the best course for the time being would be to play along with that persona, she took some more hesitant steps forward, pushing her dark hair back behind her ear as if it were a nervous tick.

"Hi, I'm Kathryn. Kathryn Lukas, I'm studying law." She held out some of the papers Khan had given her that had the University letterhead on.

"Well you're in the right place, you'd be amazed how many people manage to go to the wrong campus first… oh no honey, we don't need those, just pass us your PADD." The girl smiled sweetly, taking her PADD and putting it down on the table next to her own. She tapped away on hers and soon started flicking documents across from her screen onto Kati's. Kati wished she'd known how to do that while she was in the archive, she could have downloaded a lot more useful information.

"Has your rooming been sorted yet?" The boy called David asked as his partner worked. Kati just shook her head, and he smiled at her reassuringly before pulling up some information on his own screen. "Alright, let me have a look… ah here we are, you'll be over on Stamford Street, apartment 7-01. Here's your keycard" Another file, swiped from his PADD onto hers "You'll have a roomie, her name is Marla McGivers, she's a second year in history, she'll help you out getting settled in, I imagine, once she gets back from the summer break."

"Okay, great." Kati smiled, though she wasn't sure how she felt about sharing. It might restrict her privacy and secrecy somewhat, but Khan had told her to make allies, and she supposed depending on the type of woman her roommate was, she might qualify. Kati would have to do some digging on McGivers before she got here, to find out.

"How are you with getting about the city, did you need a map?" David asked kindly.

"Uh yeah that would be good, I haven't been here long." Kati smiled, hoping he wouldn't ask where she was from, as she wasn't 100% sure what backstory Khan had given her, and she certainly couldn't tell him the truth.

"You'll love it here." David assured her, swiping the map over, before holding up his PADD to show her as well, "Here's the map, it's got the other King's campuses marked on it, in case you have any lectures over there, as well as the accommodations, some other useful places, like the public archive a few blocks away, that's great for research, and all the best places to eat."

"That was my idea." The girl grinned. "Right, I've sent over your timetable, Uni ID, the Student's handbook, all that other boring stuff, and the 'What's On' guide, that'll keep updating itself to let you know what's going on around campus, guest speakers, shows, mixers, parties that sort of thing. My advice, get involved with as much as you can, make the most of Uni-life, it's about the experience as much as the education. And if you need help with anything else, the student union is always here to help." She handed back Kati's PADD.

"Thanks" Kati smiled back, giving an awkward wave as she left. As soon as she was out of the room the act dropped, her face dropping back into an blank expression, and her spine straightening.

As her first social interaction with the inhabitants of this time period went, she had to say it had gone well. Even during the two years peace of Khan's reign before the eugenic war, Kati had had little to do with the humans, sticking mostly to her own kind, or to Khan's side as he dealt with official matters. She had known humans as cruel masters, enemy or ally soldiers, or subservient cattle, but never as equals or friends. And so she was surprised how friendly these had been, how kind and helpful. They had easily struck up a rapport with her, and she with them, just like that. Were all people in this time this way, or had it just been their job, as part of the student union or whatever they were? Was it just because they believed she was a human student like them, or could they be as accepting if they knew the true her? The girls tail didn't seem to detract from her relationship with David.

And why did that matter to Kati? She didn't need their friendship, though having allies would be necessary. Was this what Khan had wanted, why he had woken her, because he knew that these people could accept his own, that they might have the peace they longed for, alongside these people? Don't get too close, he had also said. She would have to watch herself.

Her new apartment was only a short walk away, practically on the campus. The doors slid open to greet her, and Kati was uncertain if this was simply a product of slack security in this peaceful new age, or the keycard David had added to her PADD, but she didn't hesitate over it, and just walked on through. It was grounding to see that lifts were still much the same as ever, if a bit faster, as she rode up to the seventh floor.

Entering the flat that was to her home for the foreseeable future, Kati's eyes darted about, taking in everything. It consisted of four rooms; a comfortably sized living/dining area, two bedrooms and a shared bathroom. Even though her flatmate was apparently still away on holidays, her presence permeated the flat in her belonging scattered about the living area and what was obviously her own bedroom - Kati's was empty as a blank canvas. Kati made her way through the living/dining area, observing the unfamiliar appliances and making a mental note to figure out how they worked in the near future. Some kind of user manuals must still be available in this time's version of the internet?

But finding out about the person she would be sharing so much space with seemed more pressing, and with that in mind she examined the woman's choice of decor in the shared space. Judging by the artists easel in the corner, much of it seemed to be homemade, busts and paintings of men and women from all across history going by their dress, some of whom Kati recognised as famous leaders from before her time even. It made sense, given that David had said she was studying history. Intrigued, Kati moved over to the woman's bedroom, intending only to peer through the open door, to respect her privacy. The idea went out the door as with a gasp she recognised the subject of a large, detailed painting adorning the wall over the bed. It was Khan.

He stood proud and strong facing the enemy lines at the Texas salt-flats, the site of their last stand in the eugenics wars. Having a perfect recall of events, Kati knew the scene depicted was a reconstruction in the artist's imagination rather than from another picture, but an astounding amount of research had gone into the details, from the scenery right down to their clothing. Moving in for a closer view, Kati scanned the faces of those before and behind Khan, recognising a good many, but thankfully not herself anywhere in the lineup. Could it be that its painter didn't know of her, or knew her well enough to know the front lines were not where she could be found?

Whirling about in the small room, she turned to face the desk and shelves opposite, finding that the woman had plenty of books herself, despite Khan's assertion this world didn't have many. As she suspected many of them were history books, with heaps of cutout articles and pictures wedged in the front, back and as bookmarks through-out. It didn't take long to find what she was looking for; more than one of Marla McGiver's history books was based exclusively on her kind. They would make for interesting and useful reading at some point, she was sure, but it was over the scraps and cutouts she pored right now. Adrenaline was coursing through her blood, making her hands tremble ever so slightly as she picked up an old photo of them all, standing in line at the trial, Khan front and centre with herself and Joaquin on either side of him. It was like looking in a mirror; between the perfect stasis of the cryogenic pod and the longevity of her people, she hadn't aged a day. If this woman knew her people half as well as she had the facilities to, she would be recognised in an instant!

Kati took a moment, pushing down the troublesome emotions and applying cold logic like a salve to her frazzled nerves. Hundreds of years had passed, her people believed to have been lost to time, even if McGivers saw a similarity in her roommate to the old her, she would not necessarily assume they were one and the same. Turning to the wardrobe with its mirrored door and holding her old picture up besides her reflection, Kati reasoned that while aesthetically pleasing by design, her face was fairly generic, she had no particularly distinctive features to identify her. If she wore her hair differently, cut it or grew it out, she would no longer look identical to her old self. Stuffing the picture and other pieces back into their places in the book, and the book back onto the shelf, Kati plucked up an elastic band from the stack of office supplies on the woman's desk, and pulled her shoulder length hair back into a simple ponytail. Turning back to the mirror she smiled in satisfaction; she looked more like a new her already.

Checking that she had left no obvious trace of her invasive presence, Kati headed back into the main living area, pondering this development about her roommate. Was it a coincidence that the woman she was assigned to live with had such an interest in her kind, or had Khan somehow known and arranged it to be so? If so, why? Did Marla McGivers represent great potential as an ally, or a threat that needed to be monitored and eliminated if necessary? Part of her wanted to rush back to Khan as soon as possible and ask his advice on the matter, but she quickly quashed the idea. Khan had put his trust in her and her judgement to handle this assignment, to run back to him at such small a hurdle would make her seem weak and his trust misplaced. It was clear from his tone that he only meant for her to contact him in times of great necessity, and it was too soon to say this was so. She needed more information, to meet this Marla McGivers in person and see how she was received before she could make any decisions on the matter.

Moving along, Kati decided to survey what would be her own room. A simple bed, made with fresh white sheets, an empty desk and wardrobe were all that filled the space. It would suffice her needs, once she got a greater selection of clothes to fill the wardrobe with. But it was rather bland, especially compared to her flatmate's. If she was to play the part of a university student correctly, she would have to put some of her own touches on it… except she wasn't really sure what that would constitute. She wasn't really sure who the new her was. Nearly her whole life had been devoted to duty, practicality had been necessary for survival, as long as she had somewhere to rest her head, she hadn't cared what it looked like.

She thought back to the Persian rug Khan had had in his room. It reminded her of the calmer times, in the palace in the east he had claimed as his own, and she and the others of his inner-circle had lived. None of them had thought to decorate, they had been content to leave it as it was. If she could call any look homely, she supposed that would be it. Some colours, definitely, was what this room needed.

Resolving to do some shopping in the next few days, Kati concluded her survey of the apartment, and turned her attention to the next most pressing matter; learning everything she could about this time. There was a large screen up against the wall opposite a cream and brown sofa, and after only a few seconds experimentation, she had it switched on. The television was playing some kind of soap opera, and she left it on that channel. Not for the entertainment value though, rather the practical; seeing people of this time living their day-to-day (if slightly dramatised) lives, using modern technology, the modern common vernacular - it was all of great use to her. Leaving it running she seated herself on the sofa with her PADD, and settled in for a long night catching up on everything she had missed in the last 300 years.

In only a few days, Kati was completely settled into the new age, familiar with its technologies, customs, culture and politics. She had even added two new languages to her already impressive vocabulary. She had made a shopping trip, to fully stock her wardrobe and embellish her room with a believable amount of homely touches. A few throw cushions and a bedspread in warmer hues, brightened up the bed, and a large framed mirror, a well stocked ornate jewellery box, and a selection of other beauty products tucked away completed the feminine feel. She had worried that the amount of credits she had wouldn't cover such a shopping spree, but being an electronic form of currency it posed no challenge for her to hack and bump up her balance a little.

She also fell into a comfortable routine of exercise, study, eating and sleeping. As an augment she didn't need as much rest or sustenance as humans did, but it was important that she appeared to be human when McGivers arrived, and since she wasn't sure when that would be, she had to be ready.

As it happened, the moment arrived late in the week, the Friday before they were due to begin classes, and while Kati was out for her morning jog. She arrived back at the apartment to hear music playing. Entering cautiously, remembering to breathe heavily as though tired from her run, she found the shared space empty, but heard a soft female voice humming along to the music from McGivers' room.

"Hello?" She called out in a light manner as she made her way towards it. She wasn't halfway across the room when the young woman popped her head out the door. A warm and friendly smile sat in a warm, rounded face, topped with a mess of short but vibrant red curls.

"Hi!" She sang out brightly, emerging fully and coming towards Kati, holding out her hand for a handshake. "I'm Marla, and you must be Katie."

* * *

 _AN: Had a week off so managed to get this chapter done quite quick. :D I should mention that I have never been to any uni, yet alone that uni, so any mistakes I make in relation to that... I'm just gonna write off as being a product of the AU timeline :p_

 _But seriously, thank you so much for all the support you guys have given me so far, and the feedback. Shoutouts to kyro232' Di The Creator, Guest Kat, NaginiFay, galwidanatitud and elbafo for reviewing, I love you guys :)_

 _not sure when the next update is going to be, but I will see you there_


	3. Ready to Re-Write History?

**Chapter 3 - Ready to Re-Write History?**

A cold hand clenched at Kati's heart for a fraction of a second at hearing Marla McGiver's calling her 'Katie'. Before panic could set in however, her mind supplied the answer: Katie was a common shortening of Kathryn, the name Khan had given her as an alias. Clever, to give her a name so similar to her own to make it easier for her to adjust to it, though it may have been a simple coincidence, as her research had already revealed to her that she had in fact adopted the name and background of the woman who took her place in her pod.

"Yes, hi, nice to meet you. I'm sorry I wasn't here when you got back, I would have helped you with your things." Kati said with a charming smile as she shook the woman's hand. She had thought a lot in the past few days how she wanted to play things with her intriguing roommate. She held potential to be either a great asset, or dangerous enemy, and while part of that would come down to the woman's own nature, a larger part of it lay in Kati's own hands. If she wished to make an ally of Marla McGivers, she had to first make her a friend.

"Oh no problem, I didn't have much since I left most of my things here, it took no time at all. I was just about to get a cup of tea actually, did you want one?" The redhead asked, turning away to the kitchen.

"That would be great, thanks. I'm just going to go change, I'll only be a minute." Kati accepted, hurrying to her room to change out of her jogging clothes into something more casual, though she left her hair tightly tied back.

"How'd you take your tea?" Marla's voice called through from the living area.

"However it comes, I'm not fussy." She called back, checking her reflection once more before going out.

"Oh I'm very picky when it comes to tea." Marla laughed, carrying two steaming mugs over to the sitting area and handing one to Kati as they took seats "Have you ever tried proper tea, actually from the leaves rather than a replicator?" Kati shook her head, lying of course, but she could hardly reveal that that was all she'd had in her day. "My mum has her own tree, makes it as often as she can, it's lovely. People say you can't tell the difference with this replicator stuff, but when it comes to tea... Better than nothing though." Marla finished with a shrug, taking a sip with a satisfied sigh.

"It sounds like you really take your history seriously, even liking your food and drink prepared the old-fashioned way." Kati quipped as she took a gulp of her own, hoping to draw Marla out on the subject.

Marla laughed. "Well I wouldn't go that far, tea is one thing, but I sometimes have to wonder where people used to find the hours in the day to cook meals from scratch every day. I mean they did have ready-meals in the late 20th to early 21st centuries, which they could just-" She cut herself off with another laugh, "Oh there I go again. Sorry, just ignore me if I keep on about it, you're right, history is something of a passion of mine."

"It's fine." Kati laughed with her, "You're not boring me, yet. Actually, I have to admit I've been intrigued by all these pictures and sculptures since I got here. Did you do them all yourself?"

Marla nodded, giving a humble little shrug. "When I get inspired by what I study, it brings out the artist in me."

Kati got up, putting down her empty mug and taking a closer look at a painting of Leif Erikson. She had seen it plenty of times in the last week, but she still found fascinating. "You have a talent. The detail…"

"It could be better." Marla admitted, standing besides Kati with her mug cradled in both hands. "That was one of my first, I tended to shy away from backgrounds back then. But now we have a holosuite at the uni, we use it quite frequently in history, and one of my Professors, Mr Walker, he says I could book it out for myself sometimes for inspiration. I did one just before I left for break, come see." She beckoned proudly for Kati to follow her into her room. Kati felt a slight twinge of guilt at her flatmate's confidence that she wouldn't have previously invaded her privacy, when she had, but it was pushed aside. As suspected, Marla lead her to the picture of Khan, beaming at it as her pride and joy, and Kati knew she would have to be on her best game if she was going to prevent herself giving anything away, and get all she could out of Marla at the same time.

"Who is he?" She started, with the same hushed respectful tone that would be expected in a library.

"You don't know?" Marla looked momentarily shocked, and Kati worried she'd made a blunder already, but then the artist laughed "Sorry, sometimes I forget not everyone is as obsessed with history as I am. His name was Khan Noonien Singh, a great leader of the augments in the late 21st century." Her eyes fixed once more on the picture as she said it, her pupils dilated and a slight flush appearing across her cheeks.

"You sound like a schoolgirl with a crush." Kati pointed out, laughing with genuine delight. This would certainly make matters easier if it was ever necessary to reveal the truth of matters to Marla.

"Is it that obvious?" Marla's blush deepened and she bit her lip slightly, "I know it probably sounds crazy, but there's just something about the great men of history that makes modern men pale in comparison."

"I suppose. But would you really include Khan Noonien Singh as a great man? I mean sure, he was supposed to be some kind of superman, but he was a tyrant wasn't he? A despot." The words tasted like the foulest of blasphemies, and Kati hated saying them, slandering her great leader before a potential ally. But it was the commonly accepted belief in this time, and to say any different could mark her for who she really was. "All the augments were, that's why we fought them." She added for good measure.

"That's what most history books would have us believe." Marla sighed with a doubtful turn to her lips and eyebrow.

"A historian who disagrees with the history books, now that's got to be a first." Kati folded her arms and leaned back against the doorframe, casual challenge in her manner, as though daring Marla to defend her people. "Go on, you've got me curious."

"Well everyone knows politics often has a way of influencing how history is recorded, making the victors look blameless and the losers look deserving of destruction. But a true historian's job is to look at all accounts without bias and establish the truth of events." Marla started by explaining, perching casually on her bed.

"It doesn't sound that different to law." Kati pointed out.

"I suppose it doesn't. In fact…" Marla propelled up, putting her mug down on her desk as she pulled down one of the historical volumes on the augments that Kati had previously examined. She rifled through its pages, finally finding the one she wanted and waving Kati over to look, pointing triumphantly at the page. "Here, here's the record of the final trial of the surviving augments of the eugenics wars. Give it a look over, and you tell me, as a law student, what is missing?"

With a pounding heart, Kati pulled the book towards her, the words coming to life in her mind, echoing in the voices of those who said them, voices she would never forget. She took a minute to make Marla believe she was reading it over, but she didn't need to to answer Marla's question.

"A defence." She breathed, just glad her voice didn't shake with the emotion.

"Precisely!" Marla agreed jubilantly, oblivious to the depth of Kati's feeling. "I mean, I know very little about law besides historical points, but something seems off about the whole trial to me. It might make an interesting case study for you."

"I'm sure it would." Katie agreed, hardly able to believe how the perfect cover for her researches and the perfect accomplice had just fallen into her lap.

"I was actually planning on writing my thesis on the true history of the augments and the eugenics wars, maybe we could help each other out." Marla continued, meeting Kati's eyes with equal excitement brimming there. "What d'ya think? Ready to re-write history?"

"You bet."

—

In the few days before term was due to start, a fast friendship started to grow between Kati and Marla. Though as genuinely as Kati was finding her feelings of friendship towards Marla, she couldn't forget the need to stay on her guard, sharing only the most innocent facts about herself and being purposefully vague about her past. If Marla noticed, she didn't comment, though sometimes Kati thought she saw a sympathy in her friend's eyes that suggested she had picked up on her reticence, but was letting it be out of kindness. Kati could only hope others would be as generous.

Their first day arrived in no time, and armed only with her DataPADD, Kati waved goodbye to Marla, whose classes were held in a different campus across the river, and made her way to her own class. The room was laid out like an amphitheatre, with arcing rows of seats looking down on the professor's currently unoccupied desk. Of the students, gathered in chatting clusters around the room, Kati observed that twenty-one were human; two Bolian were sat together at the front of class and one female Vulcan exchange student sat separate from the rest, quietly observing. Not wanting to alienate herself like the Vulcan, Kati made her way towards the main cluster, seating herself one seat over from a young, blonde haired male student. Almost immediately he turned to her, and she gave him a meek smile.

"You don't mind if I sit here, do you?"

"Not at all." He shuffled further round to her, leaning one arm across the back of the chair between them, and holding his other to shake hers as soon as she'd put her Padd down on the slimline desk. "The name's John, and you are?"

"Kathryn." She stopped herself adding her faux last name, not wanting to sound unnaturally formal.

"Nice to meet you, Kathy. Oh, and this is Mike, my roommate." He gestured to a lad with short brown hair in the row in front, who gave her a grin and a nod, "and my girlfriend, Suzette." He finished after a getting a nudge and fake cough from the girl with a blonde bob beside him.

"Hi." Suzette waved leaning around her boyfriend and giving Kati a speculating once-over. Whatever she saw she said nothing, but her smile was a little strained and fake as she continued. "So do you know anyone here?"

"Uh no, my roommate is doing history, she's over the river."

"What about your boyfriend?" She swiftly followed up, the question clearly loaded.

Kati hesitated a second - it was a question that surprisingly hadn't come up with her roommate, though she had been prepared to say she didn't have one for the sake of simplicity. Now though, taking in Mike's obviously interested stare, and Suzette's purposeful posing of the question, it seemed an alternative answer would be better.

"He doesn't go to this school. We've got a bit of a… long distance thing going on." She supplied, just enough detail to prevent further questions, but nothing to trap her later on.

"Must be tough. But don't worry honey, you can stick with us." Suzette kindly offered, visibly more relaxed now she knew that Kati wasn't a threat to her relationship.

"Yeah. And y'know if the long distance thing doesn't work out with your current boyfriend, I'm right here." Mike teased, with the ease of a playboy, causing Suzette to roll her eyes and John to give him a playful kick.

"Oh give it a rest, Mike."

A small giggle escaped Kati at their antics, just as movement caught the corner of her eye from the professor walking into the room. A hush descended across the gathered students, turning back towards the front in their seats as he walked straight up to the electronic whiteboard and scrawled across it, the handwriting transforming into typed text as he went.

 _Innocent until proven guilty._

"Alright class, my name is Professor Austin, and by way of introducing yourselves can anyone tell me where this quote is from, and what bearing it has upon criminal court proceedings?"

—

When Kati returned to the flat, she found Marla had beaten her back, already curled up on the sofa with her Padd on her knees, her hair up in a messy bun on the top of her head, and a mug of tea besides her, still mostly full and apparently forgotten. She spared only a brief glance at Kati as she walked in, her eyes drawn back to what she was reading immediately as if by magnetic force.

"How was your first day?" She murmured, taking a sip of her tea and then wrinkling her nose at how cold it had gotten.

 _Slow_ , Kati wanted to say. _Do humans really need to take so long to learn anything?_ What had taken her class all day to grasp, she has assimilated in 5 minutes. If the course was run at her speed it would probably take only a matter of weeks to learn it all, not years. But she had to blend in, take the course at human pace so as to appear human. She almost envied the Vulcan, whose proud features could openly proclaim her boredom at the pace.

"It was alright," she said, instead of vocalising the thoughts in her head. "Nothing too difficult to start with. And my classmates seem nice enough."

"Mm, you'll have to introduce me." Marla said with the vagueness of someone whose mind was only barely on the conversation, while simultaneously trying to be elsewhere. Kati smiled and left her to it for a moment, making a trip to the toilet and then the replicator for her own drink before sitting down opposite her friend.

"What about you, how was your day? You seem pretty engrossed in your studies already."

"Hmm? Oh yeah, we just had the basic 'welcome back' and 'here are some more subjects that might interest you if you haven't started your thesis yet' talks, and then they let us get on with it." Marla answered with a shrug, before frowning at her Padd again. "But I'm still stuck over the same point I was last term. I keep skipping ahead and working on other points, but I have to tackle this eventually or the whole thing comes undone. I just can't see around it!"

"Could I help? You did suggest working together, maybe a new perspective can shed some light on things." Kati offered.

Marla sighed as though she doubted it, but trustingly offered up the facts to her companion.

"It's the second Great Eugenics War, I can't figure out the catalyst. Most historical wars are over some kind of resources, food, oil, land, something one has and the other wants to take by force. Other causes are political, someone killed someone important to somewhere else, or simple conquest. But none of those fit with the Eugenic war, they had already conquered the entire world, before sharing it out among themselves, they pooled all their resources, and I can't find any political motivations either. I'm stumped."

Kati chewed her lip in thought. She knew the catalyst perfectly well, had sat in war councils with Khan as reports flooded them on how one of the other generals Khan had elected to rule a portion of the earth was mistreating its inhabitants. Plea after plea came from the humans, begging Khan's help to free them from the oppression. Khan had demanded Hans stand down, and after being denied, had gathered those loyal to him to march on the continent of America and force Hans to obey. But they had been tricked, though Hans was not as benevolent as Khan, he was nowhere near as bad as the humans had made out. But it was too late, the challenge had been made and Hans was more than willing to answer. The humans stood by as the Augments tore each other apart, then made their own stand against the survivors. The rest, as indeed it all was, was history.

"What about the people…humans I mean?" She suggested, measuring her words to lead Marla down the right track, whilst appearing to know little to nothing about it herself.

"What about them? You think they were the resource the Augments fought over, like slaves?" Marla picked at the thread, but started going down the wrong track. Kati was going to have to give her another nudge in the right direction.

"Maybe, maybe not. That book you showed me the other day about the trial, one of the things it was accusing them of said that they tortured the people and worked them like slaves though."

"Yeah, but that trial was bogus, it was complete bull." Marla defended vehemently, "Every other account I've read of Khan's reign says he was a fair and kind ruler. His idea of justice was swift and merciless, but that just served as a deterrent that helped him establish peace over the regions he ruled. They called him the greatest of the tyrants for a reason."

"And what about the other guy?"

Kati could almost see the lightbulb coming on in Marla's head. She sat up straight and then stilled, eyes nearly glowing with excitement, unfocused and flickering as she chased down all the loose threads in her mind and knitted them together.

"Of course! He was protecting humanity, that's what they were designed for! But then did the humans forget whose side he was on or… oh!" She gasped as the whole picture came into view, "A revolution! They knew they couldn't fight the Augments themselves so they turned them against each other, then used the same lies to sentence the survivors."

"So neither of the Augments were cruel then?" Kati fought to contain her emotions, trying to appear only vaguely interested when inside her a weight was lifting, a giddy joy over this small victory, that felt like a foreshadow of the greater ones she could achieve if they could convince others of this.

"I don't know, the evidence in the trial had to come from somewhere but, it's a possibility!" Marla had no such problems, her excitement spilling over. "Oh but this could be the biggest historical breakthrough of our time! I need to go to the archives, I need more data, evidence to back this up so I can present it!" She gathered up her things in a flurry, disposing of her mug in the kitchen and throwing on her coat. She had just reached for the door handle when she stopped, and instead she ran back to Kati, enveloping her in a crushing hug.

"Thank you! Don't wait up!" And then she was gone, leaving Kati smiling to herself on the sofa.

* * *

 _AN: Hi again, sorry for the delay on this chapter, it was part writers block, part life getting busy. Hopefully I'll get the next one done quicker, and a certain someone will be making a reappearance ;)_

 _Thanks to Sassiebone, Elbafo, galwidanatitud and that unnamed guest for your reviews on that last chapter, and all you lovely followers too for your support._


	4. No Need For Disguises

**Chapter 4 - No Need For Disguises**

Her time at the University flew by quickly, due to the ease of her studies and her social life. In her act to appear as an average student she put in as much study time outside her lectures as the others, though learning far more, but was careful not to let it show in her assignments, coming a calculated second-best in class - Heather, the Vulcan being first, though Kati was confident she could beat her if she tried. Marla was always up for Kati playing out defence and prosecution strategies on her, the subject always the same; The Augments. It was tempting, but she still hadn't told her who or what she really was, though she was certain Marla would be accepting. It wasn't part of the plan, not yet, and she wouldn't make as bold of a move as that without her prince's express permission.

But as easy and enjoyable as she was finding university life, she felt an emptiness, a melancholy longing like homesickness for her true family. She could not forget why she was here, and the memory of her brothers and sisters laying silent and defenceless in their cryotubes, in the hands of a would-be-warlord, haunted her. The more time passed, the more the ache grew, so that even Marla commented on her depression. She dismissed her friend's concerns with a lie about her fake long-distance boyfriend breaking up with her, killing two birds with one stone, but it only served as a sharp reminder she couldn't go on like this - that excuse would only hold so long, and then she either needed to do something about her longing, or sharpen up her acting so it was less noticeable.

She didn't remember consciously making the decision, but the next Friday evening she found herself standing outside of Saturn Five - the bar which Khan had told her he could be found in. It was foolish, reckless even, when there was nothing she specifically needed from him, but all the same, she found herself unable to turn back, so went in.

The place was crowded and noisy, with strobing lights on the dance floor and soft mood lighting by the tables, a perfect atmosphere for the average partygoer to lose themselves in. Kati made her way to the bar, her eyes scanning the crowd as she went. The crowd was as diverse as she had come to expect, but in this relaxed setting it was easy to see how like seemed to be drawn to like, those of the same species pairing off, or in mixed groups with a few of their kind. It was instinctual, and perhaps that's why she found him so easy to find.

Khan lounged in a booth of seats commanding a view of the entire room as he sipped at a small glass of dark amber liquid. A broken light above him caused deep shadows to cloak him mostly from human eyes, but her own saw through the darkness perfectly. His also seemed drawn to her, piercing in their examination as he tried to work out what brought her, and patient as they waited for her to join him and tell him.

As easily as she found him though, she also identified his guard, trying to appear inconspicuous in plainclothes in the next booth, but obviously on duty as he cradled a soft drink and kept Khan in the corner of his eye at all times. To approach Khan would gain his attention, and depending on how closely they were screening Khan's associates, could be a risky. And even if they didn't investigate her this time, they may remember her if she ever did come back in genuine need. She could hardly explain to Khan that she had put their plan, and all their brothers and sisters at risk simply because she was lonely. It was unacceptable.

But if she just kept walking, if she was just another patron of the bar, another face in the crowd, the guard would have no reason to notice her, negating any danger of detection. The bow of her head to her prince was so slight it would hardly be noticed, except by him as she carried on past him, taking up a position at the bar and ordering a drink.

Cocktail in hand, she turned back around to look out at the room, soaking in the atmosphere. It was amazing how much just seeing Khan had relaxed her, easing the ache of loneliness and renewing her purpose. She still missed the rest of her augmented family, but just a reminder that she wasn't alone was enough to invigorate her.

Her drink was half finished and she'd gently rebuffed more than one man asking her for a dance, when she saw him move, standing smoothly, glass in hand, and walking towards her. She felt a tremor of unease and shame, certain that she would be scolded for coming unnecessarily, though Khan's face held no sign of his intention. He came right up to the bar besides her without even sharing a glance, and ordered himself another drink. He said not a word as he waited for his drink to be served, and when it was in his hand he walked away, back to the shadows of his table.

Kati smiled in relief and comfort, knowing she wasn't being summoned or reprimanded, but acknowledged. Could it be that he understood, that he felt it too, the need for just some simple connection to someone who understood? They were both living in isolation and pretence in a world that was not their own and didn't understand them, could it be that it affected him as much as her?

Kati finished her drink and left not long after, feeling buoyed. It was only a few weeks though until the melancholy started to creep over her again, and this time, knowing what to do, she didn't hesitate to return. After that, she found herself becoming a regular customer in Saturn Five, even going there on other nights of the week; sometimes alone, but often with friends from Uni. She was careful though, not to take Marla on a Friday night, sure that if she laid eyes on Khan she would instantly identify him. Not that Khan was there every Friday, he would sometimes be missing one week, or several in an untraceable pattern. They never spoke, though one night when his eyes were particularly dark and distant with worries, he let his arm brush against her as he passed her, the unexpected contact leaving her simultaneously thrilled and troubled.

It was the Wednesday of the following week, long after his troubled eyes had faded from her immediate memory, that she returned home to the prickling sensation that someone was in her home who shouldn't be. Marla wouldn't be home so early today, having told Kati that morning that she had booked some time in the holosuite this afternoon, getting inspiration for her latest painting. Besides, Marla wouldn't have a need to force the door, the slight scuffing on it being the first sign Kati noticed that their home had been invaded. As she cautiously and stealthily walked through the main living space she saw that nothing was out of place in there, the intruder was either meticulous in covering their tracks, or had been more sure of purpose, and moved straight though to one of the bedrooms.

Or more specifically her bedroom, as she highly doubted her cheerful, friendly, slightly naive roommate was mixed up in anything that could cause a highly skilled individual to break into their apartment. For herself, she could see two possibilities; either Sector 31 of Starfleet had discovered her escape and had sent someone to either eliminate her, or bring her in, or Khan had managed to free one of the others, and sent them to her. The latter seemed less likely, if more appealing, so she couldn't take any chances and had to assume the invader was hostile.

She was almost right outside her bedroom door now, instinctively moving to flatten herself against the wall beside it. Closing her eyes she focused her hearing, and picked out a strong, steady heartbeat and breathing pattern just the other side of the door. They were waiting for her, probably banking on the element of surprise, something she could turn back against them if she moved quickly enough.

With superhuman speed and control she opened the door and threw a powerful punch towards the heartbeat. They moved faster however, and before she knew it she had been grabbed, spun and bent backwards in a firm and painful chokehold. She couldn't see her attacker from the position she was held in, but when they spoke, it was with a voice she would know anywhere.

"Stand down." He commanded firmly, and she let herself go limp in his hold in answer, unable to speak with his arm across her throat. Khan released her immediately, and she pulled away, turning back to face him and bowing deeply.

"My Lord, I apologise. I wasn't expecting you."

"Of course you weren't. Good to see you haven't allowed civilian life to dull your combat instincts, I admit I was concerned that you might be losing yourself a little too much to the role when seeing you with your University friends at Saturn Five." He said, circling slowly and inspecting her.

"I have integrated myself into this world, but I haven't forgotten our purpose." She assured him.

"Good." He commended heartily, but then a small frown appeared on his face and he reached out for her hair, tugging the band out and letting it fall down around her shoulders - so much longer now than when she had woken up in this world. "That's better, it's more you. There's no need for disguises when it's just the two of us."

Over the many years she had lived and fought besides Khan, she had got used to the duality of him; cold, hard and emotionless one moment, warm, sensual and pensive the next. It was true of all the augments, they had been bred and trained into soldiers, but she supposed something of who they could have been without that occasionally broke though, their true natures coming to the fore. She had had to push the soldier side of her aside for the most part in this world, leaning more on and learning more about who she could have been. For Khan it had probably been the opposite, as his soldier's mind was exploited by Marcus. Just as he was asking her to let go of her disguise around him, he was letting go of his around her, letting his true self through, if only here in the safety of her room and her company.

"Maybe I should let it down at Saturn Five too." She agreed, following suit and dropping the manner of a subject for one of a friend.

A sadness overcame his features and he shook his head, taking a gentle hold of her shoulders and speaking in earnest.

"You can't go back there, Kati, go nowhere near there, not to the archive for studies, or to the bar. Promise me."

"I promise." Kati readily agreed, though a deep pit of worry opened up in her. "But why? Was I not discreet enough, are they onto me?"

"No." He softly consoled her, "It's nothing you did, it was me. I…" his hesitance and the moisture pooling in his eyes shook her, and she reached up, taking him by the arm instead and guiding him out to a seat in the living area, sitting across from him with avid attention. "I failed, Kati. Failed in my plan, and failed our people."

"How?" She asked, not wasting breath on platitudes that he would not want. "What happened?"

"One of the weapons they had me designing, a new type of photon torpedo… I found I could condense the technology make smaller, far smaller than They, with their tiny minds, could conceive. By keeping the casing to the same scale, and simply condensing the technology inside it, I found I could make room for a cryopod in each. It would be a perfect hiding place, somewhere they would never think to look." Khan explained "And it would seem Marcus thinks similarly, as he also had attempted to hide from me right beneath my nose; while I initially believed he had been shipping the cryopods in from elsewhere when he showed them to me, I found they were in fact on the base the whole time. From there was easy to retrieve them and hide them in the missiles, all I had left to do was smuggle the whole lot away, freeing our people and securing a deterrent to prevent Section 31 from coming after us. It was all in place, the missiles were arranged to be transported to the Starbase behind Jupiter, and I had arranged to have them diverted to a secure location of my own instead. But it seems not everyone at Starfleet was as witless as I had believed, someone spotted the inconsistency in my designs, realised there was something amiss with the missiles, and alerted Marcus to my plans. He waited until I tried to make my move, taking just them and leaving me no choice but to escape alone."

He looked away in shame, and Kati hesitantly laid a hand over his in comfort and seeking comfort, as she felt the loss weighing her down too, the horror she had always felt over the idea of their people in Marcus's clutches amplifying now the danger was realised, the axe falling towards them rather than just hanging over their heads.

"Is there any hope, Khan? Will he kill them all or just make an example?" The idea of any one of their now dwindling numbers being lost was painful, but they must be practical, and any survivors was better than none.

"He contacted me, shortly after my escape. He showed me footage; a weapons test of one of the missiles on Ganymede." His teeth were clenched in anger, but his hand gentle as it reversed positions with hers and gave her a supportive squeeze. "I saw the serial number on it before launch. It was McPherson's pod."

Kati's mouth fell open slightly and a tear escaped her eye. McPherson had been a good friend to her; they had saved one another's lives more than once during the wars. She remembered him once, fighting off five men with his shoulder dislocated, and then almost striking her as she grabbed him, trying to stop him long enough to put his arm back into place. With perfect control he had stopped his fist centimetres from her face, and then grinned at her, making a smart remark even as she was popping his shoulder back in, and then he ran off again with a wink over his shoulder. It was hard to accept that the augment so full of life and energy was now among the fallen.

"He only showed me the one, but I have no way of knowing if it was the only. I have nothing but his word that they are not all dead - a word I am loath to accept, though as long as there is hope, I must." Khan went on.

"So what happens now? You go back to Sector 31?" Kati asked, trying to understand what this meant for them, for their mission.

He shook his head, leaving her mystified. "My work there is done, my designs either completed, or close enough that his experts can finish them. Marcus plans to…shut down, the London base, in preparation for the war… the war I will be the trigger of."

"Trigger how?"

He let go of her hand and his eyes seemed to look through her rather than at her. The emotion was too much, she realised, and he was shutting it off, thinking again as the soldier he was designed to be. His answer was in a tone she knew well, but never coming from his mouth. It was that of a lowly soldier repeating back orders.

"I am to go rogue, commit a terrorist action right here in the heart of London. People will die, innocent people, and there will be panic. I will then commandeer one of the emergency service's jump ships and head for the Daystrom Starfleet command centre in San Francisco. There all the Starfleet captains and their first mates will be gathered in an emergency session responding to my initial attack. I am to fire upon the room, carefully and precisely to scare but not kill a soul… Marcus is confident in my abilities to do so. Then I am to use a trans-warp beaming device to transport myself to a deserted region of the Klingon planet Kronos, to await further instruction."

"You mean await execution!" Kati cried, following Marcus's strategy perfectly. "That's how he plans to start a war, to fire on their home planet under the guise of neutralising a threat!"

Khan nodded grimly. "Yes, most likely with the remaining photon torpedoes."

"Then you can't let him! You can't possibly plan to go through with this!" Kati shot to her feet, grief transforming to anger, a raging need to fight a way out of this. Khan stood also, slowly, threateningly, towering over her in a reminder that he was her ruler, and it was not her place to defy him so outrightly. He stared her down until, her chest heaving with emotion, she bowed her head just slightly, yielding to his will. Only then did he reach out and put a hand on her shoulder in comfort.

"I do not intend to die, nor allow him to kill any more of our people. I have my own plan. I-" he cut himself off suddenly, his head tilting away as he listened to whatever it was that distracted him. Then Kati heard it too; footsteps coming to a stop just outside the door. Marla. In the time it took for Marla to open the door, Kati flew across the room, wedging herself in the doorframe to block Marla's entry and view into the room.

"Marla! I wasn't expecting you back so soon!"

"Hi… Katie…What's going on?" Her roommate asked with a raised eyebrow.

"You uh… can't come in just yet…" Kati glanced back over her shoulder at Khan, who was watching curiously, with a twinkle of amusement about his mouth and eyes. He understood the look though and gave a nod, walking casually back through to Kati's room and closing the door behind him.

"Okay, but I can't think why, I know it's not my birthday so you're not planning a surprise par- oh!" Marla had been trying to look past her, but now her gaze focused more on Kati instead, coming to a conclusion. Kati realised before Marla could say any more what she must be looking at; her flushed face, loose hair and dress slightly rumpled and twisted from the fight could spell something very different from the truth. "Have you got a guy in there?!" Marla finished, grinning.

Deciding it was a good cover, Kati ran with it, not saying anything, but giving her friend a sheepish grin in return.

"Katie!" Marla fake scolded, giggling, "What, you couldn't keep your hands off one another long enough to make it to the bedroom?"

"Something like that." Kati agreed, surprised to find herself blushing more in genuine embarrassment, aware that Khan was only a room away and could hear every word. Why that should matter though, she didn't know - embarrassment was a useless emotion that had been mostly driven out of Augments, they felt no embarrassment over body or sexual matters, only a little over weakness, defeat or failure. Yet it seemed the more time Kati spent immersed in human culture, the more was rubbing off on her, including these pesky sensibilities. She tried to ignore it, stepping aside to admit Marla now the room was clear. "Anyway he's…"she waved in the direction of her room awkwardly "now… so I should…"

"Just keep it down while I grab a change of clothes, alright" Marla giggled still, making her way towards her own room, "I'm going out to meet Suzette and Amy and the guys for dinner. They did send you a message to invite you too, but you obviously haven't seen it. I'll let them know you're busy."

"Don't you dare! You'll break Mike's heart." Kati bantered back, "We were pretty much done anyway, just give me five minutes to say goodbye and I'll meet you downstairs."

"Oh yeah, saying goodbye, right." Marla shouted back through, but Kati ignored her entering her bedroom and making sure the door was firmly locked behind her. Khan was stood passively in the middle of the room, watching her curiously.

"I have been in this city almost two years now, and no-one has recognised me yet. Why are you so afraid your flat mate will?" He asked speculatively.

"She's a post-grad history student, specialising in the Eugenics Wars, in us. She hasn't recognised me yet, but trust me, she will you." Kati explained, keeping her voice low.

"Is she a serious threat?" Khan asked speculatively, and Kati knew he wouldn't hesitate to issue an order to kill.

"More of an asset." Kati defended. Even before she had found such a friendship in Marla it had been her assessment, so she had no problem presenting it to Khan now.

"I see. Change the leading expert on augment's opinion of us, and you could change the world's. Clever." He praised, before his mouth turned down again. "Though I fear it will be for nothing after what I am about to do."

Kati stepped right up to him, staring up at his face in concern. "You said you had a plan." She reminded him.

"I must appear to be going along with Marcus's plan; I shall follow his first step to the letter." Khan explained stiffly. "But when it comes to firing on Daystrom,.."A devilish smile spread across his face. "I could avoid hitting anyone, but accidents do happen."

"Will Marcus be in the room?" Kati asked, trying to follow.

"He will, but he will have failsafes in place. I cannot kill him, not until our people are back in my hands, and not his. I have another target in mind: Admiral Christopher Pike. He was once Admiral Marcus' protege, a fitting choice to avenge McPherson. More than that though, his death will ensure that his First Officer, James Tiberius Kirk is the man who will be coming after me to Kronos. Of all the men and women who will be in that room, who I have carefully studied, he is my best chance. He was a Captain until recently, demoted for his failure to follow the regulations. He is rebellious by nature, but oh so moral. He would not fire torpedoes at an unarmed fleeing suspect, no matter my crime. He would agree initially out of anger, taking on the torpedoes, but I do not believe him capable of firing, instead he will come down to the planet, possibly even personally, and try to capture me, to bring me back to face justice."

"Where I will be waiting to defend you." Kati immediately volunteered. Her enthusiasm was quelled somewhat by the look on his face though; a careful blank that seemed to be hiding something. "Khan? That is what I am here for, isn't it."

"It is." He agreed, with some warmth, before putting his hands on both her shoulders, holding her firm to impress on her the importance of his next words. "And that is one scenario, but Captain Kirk is a wildcard, I cannot fully predict his actions with any certainty, and so we must be prepared for several. Best case, I can reason with Kirk, secure our people and a ship and make our escape. If you receive news of this you stay put and you wait, I will come back for you when it is safe to do so. Worse case scenario, his rage is too great, Marcus wins and none of us return. You must be prepared for that, Kati. If it happens, you must make a life here for yourself. Avenge us if you can, but do not throw away your life on doing so. If I die with the others, I will at least be comforted knowing that one of our number survives: You. Tell me you will do that for me, Kati, tell me you will continue for us, no matter the outcome."

"I promise." Kati swore firmly, adding only in her own mind that she would still fight to clear his name, posthumously if necessary.

"Good." Khan answered, with a knowing look that almost suggested he had heard her private oath too. He turned away from her, picking up a long coat he had left draped over her chair before she arrived, and pulling up his hood. "I must leave, I have things to put into action. I am sorry that I can give you no better instruction than to be ready, but I trust you will act wisely whatever happens." He shrugged the coat on and held something out to her, which she took, their hands joined a few seconds longer than necessary, communicating all that couldn't be put into a word as simple as goodbye. Finally he pulled back and she was left holding her hair band.

"Go, lead your flatmate away, so I can make my escape."

It was all happening so fast now, Kati felt almost numb as she quickly pulled her hair back and secured it once again with the band, straightened her clothes and walked out the door that he held open for her. She could feel him following her towards the front door of the flat, and turned back to him just before she reached it.

"If I never see you again; It was an honour, My Lord." She told him, and then let herself out quickly.

The turbolift downstairs felt too quick, but it was just time enough for her to recompose herself. One thing at a time, she would deal with whichever of the several outcomes Khan predicted came true when it did, but right now she had a mission, express instructions to divert her friends attention from his exit.

The turbolift doors opened, and Kati saw Marla, leaning against the wall by the door, scanning social media while waiting for her. Putting on a smile, Kati went out to her, grabbing her by the arm to playfully tug her along.

"Come on then, let's not keep the other waiting." She joked.

"Oh you can talk!" Marla laughed, falling into step beside her, though looking back over her shoulder. "So where's your man then, don't I get to meet him?"

"He just needed to use the toilet, I told him he could let himself out when he's done." Kati lied smoothly.

"If I didn't know better I'd say you were hiding him from me." Marla pointed out in mock sternness, and Kati laughed along to hide her guilt. "Do I at least get to know his name?"

"Uh.." Kati hesitated, biting back the name on her tongue. He had another name in this time, she had discovered while digging into Section 31 shortly after waking up here, and that would have to do for now. "John, I think."

"You can't even remember his name! Katie!" Marla roared in outraged laughter, "So it's like that is it? A one time thing."

"Probably. We didn't really.. make plans." Kati agreed. They were walking along the river towards the high street now, and she sensed someone coming up behind them. She couldn't help her intake of breath as he overtook them walking quickly and making sure his face was hidden from them by his hood.

"Was that him?" Marla asked perceptively, seeing Kati staring after him.

"Yeah, that was him." She answered, still watching his retreating back.

"How rude, he didn't even look at you. He has a nice arse though, I'll give him that."

"Marla!" Kati gasped in shock. She had never considered her Prince's backside before, and though her eyes instinctively strayed there in response to her friend's words, it felt kind of wrong to do so now.

"What? It's not like you're planning on seeing him again."

Kati forced a smile in response to her friend's words, but inside they sunk through her like a lead weight, settling in the pit of her stomach. Because Marla was right, even as he slipped into the crowds ahead and disappeared from their view, Kati had to accept it might well be the last time she would ever see him. And it broke her heart.

* * *

 _AN: Well that one came out a bit longer than I expected. Anyone pick up on the little 'Space Seed' Khan reference I made there?_

 _Thanks again galwidanatitud, Di the Creator and elbafo for your words of encouragement. And I see a few new followers have come along for the ride, welcome aboard!_


	5. Warriors Instincts

**Chapter 5 - Warrior Instincts**

Kati's acting had been on top form as she ate out with her friends, by all appearances a carefree university student, laughing, joking, making plans for the future as they entered the last term of this school year, and their courses. Even her usually intuitive flat mate couldn't see anything wrong, as they said goodbye to the others, walked back to their flat and sat drinking tea and talking about the trivial dramas of their friends until the night closed in on them.

In the privacy of her room though, when her friend had gone to bed, Kati was able to let the act fall, massaging her temples from the pressure headache that had been building all evening. She knew she wouldn't sleep a wink; she didn't need to physically as she had slept the night before, but even if she did, her mind wouldn't shut down with so much to compute.

Replaying the whole encounter with Khan over and over in her mind, she couldn't help noticing that for as much as he told her, he seemed to be holding even more back. He had been so vague about the beginning of his plan, the major terrorist action he was to take, but precise about the rest of it. And the rest of it had been flawless, with no less ambiguity than they had acted with confidence on before, and yet he seemed so uneasy about it; more sure of failure than he was of success. There must be some other factor, some danger he could see coming but hadn't told Kati about, but why not?

It was just his way, she supposed. He had always kept things close to his chest, only telling his generals what they needed to know rather than the whole plan. Knowledge was power, and the best way to keep his power surrounded by their strong, battle-ready, ambitious people was to make sure nobody knew too much. She had been his most trusted, his adviser, the only intellect amongst their people close enough to his own, but with the least ambition to takeover. Yet while she had always been in on most of his planning, there were always details he omitted, because she didn't need to know them. Time and time again she had came up against a hole in his planning, and he would just smile when she pointed them out. She knew then to trust him, and sure enough he would pull something out of the hat when the time came. She trusted him then, and she would continue to trust him now; all she needed to know he had told her, the three possible outcomes she must be prepared for, and prepare she would.

As it turned out, Kati didn't have long to wait to get the answer to one of her questions. The next day at lunchtime, she was sitting on a picnic bench outside the university building, debating the case study they had been examining that morning in class with her law friends, when the sky and her friend's faces were lit up orange for a second, an earth shattering boom coming from somewhere in the city behind her. In the next moment the concussive force of the blast hit them in a cloud of dust and debris, throwing the whole table over, and sending her flying. She rolled her landing and was on her feet again in seconds, pulling up her top to cover her mouth from the dust cloud and squinting to keep it out of her eyes as she surveyed the scene around her. People were screaming, crying, stumbling about in confusion, but not her, no, she was cool and collected, in her element even; destruction and chaos were old friends for a warrior like her. She stared out at the smoke and flames and could easily judge where it came from; The Archives, or Section 31 to be more precise. Khan had said Marcus was shutting it down, what better way than to have Khan destroy it in the first act of his staged rampage? It also explained why he had been so adamant she go nowhere near there again.

"Where's Kathryn?" Kati's attention was pulled back to her immediate surrounding by the sound of her fake name in one of her friends' voices. "I can't see a thing in this fog!"

"Never mind, help me get him out of here!" Suzette's voice was high with terror and tears, and Kati honed in on it, finding her group struggling to right the table, which was pinning a moaning John down.

"I'm here, let me help." She offered, taking up a place pushing the table, and remembering last second not to use her full strength. They overturned it together, and Suzette and Lyiana pulling John free at the same time, to which he gave a cry of pain.

"Careful! My leg…"

"It's broken." Kati announced after one look. "Let's get him up, get him to the nurse's office." She took Lyiana's place on his left, helping Suzette on his right to get him to his feet and support him along.

"Yeah, inside sounds like a good plan." Mike agreed, following behind. It seemed they weren't the only ones who thought so, as anyone left outside was also making for the shelter of the university, causing a bottleneck at the door. The group shuffled their way through, first taking John to the nurse's office, where Suzette stayed diligently with him despite their recent break-up, and the rest headed back to the lecture hall. There, students were gathered in frightened clusters, exchanging stories or busy on their comms, contacting loved ones. Lecturers drifted about, trying to comfort and reassure students, while looking uncertain and frightened themselves, and someone had put the news on the main screen, up-close footage already coming in from the disaster they had just taken shelter from.

"D'you think it's an attack, like the Romulans 4 years ago?" Mike asked anxiously, as they stared at the screen, "My Uncle works for Starfleet, he said they've been concerned by the Klingons recently."

"I think it's a little early to be calling this an attack, it could have just been an accident. They say there are plenty of old gas pipes still sitting under the city, it's not unheard of for them to rupture." Lyiana said evenly.

"That was no gas pipe rupture." Kati said softly, watching the flames dance on the telly. She hated that it felt like home, that it looked like the London she remembered from her previous life. She could feel her warrior side reasserting itself; longing to run towards the danger rather than hiding away in here. Excess adrenaline sung in her veins, longing for an outlet, for action, but there was no action to be taken except to wait, and it made her uncomfortable. She watched casualties being wheeled into ambulances on the screen impassively, and wished she could feel more compassion for them, but she just wasn't wired that way; all she could see was collateral damage. And though Khan had acknowledged the tragedy of it when he told her innocent lives would be lost, she knew he too wouldn't be looking back with any regret now, he would be fully immersed in his role and would move on. It was just as it had been at the beginning of the Eugenics Wars; there had been peace, but it took only a spark to reignite war inside them, and turn them all into soldiers once more. How could they ever hope for peace for their people, when underneath it all, this was all they'd ever be?

She could feel a pair of eyes on her, and turned to see Lyiana looking at her in confusion. She looked so human, that Kati often forgot that she too was not; she was El-Aurian, an especially empathetic race, and was no doubt picking up on her strong emotions right now. Emotions that had no place in a young law student of this century.

"What are you looking at?" She huffed defensively hoping it would be enough to deter her.

"I don't know what to make of you sometimes." Lyiana replied softly, before her communicator chirped and she moved away to answer it.

The panic was simmering down in the room, and a numb calm seemed to be replacing it. The tannoy had announced that classes were cancelled for the afternoon, but that the University would be staying open as a shelter. It broadcast lists and updates of the other campus buildings as residences and their safety statuses, and though most residences, including hers, were announced safe early on, no-one seemed to want to leave, finding safety and comfort in numbers. For Kati, all that mattered was that she kept her eye on the news for updates, and she could do that just as easily here as at home.

It was only about an hour later that the update she had been waiting for and dreading at the same time came through; They had identified the perpetrator and were searching for him. The caption may have read Commander John Harrison, but it was Khan Noonien Singh whose face filled the screen, and would be filling screens up and down the country as the manhunt was called.

"Hold on, I recognise him… I can't think where from, but I've definitely seen him before." Kati turned sharply at the sound of John speaking; she'd been so focused on the screen she hadn't even heard him get back from the nurse's office.

"Yeah, he does look kind of familiar." Suzette was agreeing besides him.

"Don't be ridiculous." Kati scoffed, instinctively shielding him. "Where would you guys have seen a Starfleet Officer wandering about? They're all based over in San Francisco."

"I know… but I could swear…" John mused, his eyebrows creasing in concentration.

"I got it!" Mike almost shouted, clicking his fingers and pointing at the screen. "Saturn Five! He's that shady guy who was always sitting in the corner, remember?"

"Maybe, I mean he's always in the shadows but… that is right across the road from the place he blew up." Suzette agreed, squinting at the screen as though it could make her memories any clearer.

"It's got to be him." John nodded, before turning back to Kati. "You remember Kati, he nearly walked into you last time we were in there, you must have got a better look at him?"

Kati's eyes widened and she took a stalling breath, rerunning options in her head. It was pointless denying it now, to do so could only bring suspicion on her. And what did it matter that they had seen him, as long as they didn't connect him with her?

"We should call the hotline." She declared. It wouldn't matter if they did for Khan, his handlers already knew he had been in there, but it would definitely deflect suspicion from her.

"Doing it." Mike quickly accepted, taking his comm out of his pocket. Kati nodded and exhaled, feeling as though she had dodged a bullet. She hadn't expected these guys to have recognised him so quickly. Marla perhaps-

"Marla!" She stiffened as she belatedly remembered her friend, kicking herself for not thinking of her sooner. "Where's Marla? Has anyone heard from her?" She asked in close to panic. She almost couldn't decide what would be worse; if her friend had been home, watching the news with the giant portrait of Khan hanging over her, ready to be recognised, or in her classroom, surrounded by other historians she could share her theories with, or at the archive studying when it was blown up.

"I don't know… I would have thought if anyone had heard from her it would be you." Suzette replied, mild concern on her features.

Kati forced herself to be calm, to think clearly. Suzette was right, wouldn't Kati have been the first one she would call if she'd found out that her 300 year old crush had been brought to life in this century?

"She's probably just busy on the phone to her mum." Kati excused with a strained laugh. "You have no idea how much those two can talk. Maybe I should head back to the flat though, see if she's there."

All three of her friends gave her a look as though she were mad; Mike with his hand over the microphone of his communicator.

"You can't be serious?"

"You're going out there? With all that going on?" John waved a hand at the screen.

Kati gave a shrug and a sheepish smile, trying to reassure her friends, but not willing to back down; she needed to find Marla, _now_.

"I'm sure the worst of it is over by now, and my building isn't far, they already said on the tannoy it was safe. Besides, I doubt whatever this guy is planning, it wouldn't be to blow up a random block of flats. If anything, since his last target was an archive, his next could well be a school like this one."

All the blood seemed to drain from her friends' faces, and she had to turn away, lest she laugh inappropriately. No one tried to stop her again as she headed for the door, in fact, as her words were echoed in whispers around the room, she expected they would follow sooner or later, fleeing for their own homes.

Back in her own flat, Kati found it still and empty, but it hadn't been for long. Marla's distinct perfume lingered in the air, and dusty footprints ran straight across the living room floor, the same dust that was on Kati's shoes and clothes, that was caked on every still surface outside as a result of the explosion. Marla had been back to the flat - in a rush, as was evident by her footprints - but had gone out again. She had braved the chaos of the city after the attack twice, while their other friends hadn't dared set foot outside once. But why? How much did she know?

It was no good standing in the doorway speculating, so Kati followed her flatmate's footsteps to her bedroom, and froze at what she saw there, her worst fears confirmed. One of her books on the Augments lay open on the table, the cuttings and pictures she kept inside it strewn across the surface. She had recognised Khan then, and immediately sought proof, but what else did she know? And who had she told? Kati needed to find out, she needed to find her flatmate. She had just pulled out her comm to call her friend when it chirped at her, announcing that her friend had chose to get in touch with her first.

"Marla! Thank goodness you're okay. No one had heard from you, and then I got back to the flat, and you wasn't here either." Kati took all her stress and worry and poured it out as believable friendly concern, "Where the hell are you?"

"Sorry, I was… distracted." Marla answered, in a tight voice that sounded anything but distracted, and Kati didn't like it one bit. "I'm at Cafe Aroma, if you wanted to join me."

"I'm sorry, _what?!_ It's like World War Five out there, and you're sitting about in a Cafe?"

"It's nowhere near World War Five, trust me." Marla laughed knowingly. Kati knew that too, but that edge to Marla's voice told her it had never been more important to keep up her normal 24th Century girl act. "I can't imagine what it must have been like for you guys over there, but it's really not so bad this side of the river. Come over, please? There's something I need to show you."

This was it, she had to be talking about her evidence that John Harrison was Khan. Kati may yet have a chance to convince her not to tell anyone else. She was already on her way out the door, but had to control her voice not to sound too eager to Marla's ears.

"Oh, I can't believe I'm letting you talk me into this. Fine, I'll be there in about ten minutes… if I survive the journey."

Walking fast, she was there in eight. Marla was certainly right that this side of the river did seem a lot less touched by the tragedy, the smell of smoke and sirens of emergency craft still audible, but distant enough to be ignored by the city's bustling inhabitants and businesses. As Kati entered the cafe, she couldn't see Marla at first, since her friend wasn't at their usual table. Instead she was sheltered in a booth far at the back. She jumped slightly when Kati touched her shoulder, and Kati could see how pale and strained she looked as she leaned down to give her a hug.

"I thought you said it wasn't so bad over here? You look like you've been through hell."

"Charming." Marla huffed as they broke apart, examining her friend. "You clearly haven't looked in the mirror either. Good thing I ordered us both tea."

Kati sat as Marla fiddled with a napkin.

"How are the others, was anyone we know hurt?"

"John broke his leg… the blast flipped the table we were on and he was at the bottom. He's fine now though, Nurse Killigan fixed him up."

Marla nodded, but fell silent as the waitress arrived, putting a steaming cup in front of each of them and taking away Marla's previous empty one; she sure could down tea like shots when stressed. Kati waited until the waitress was out of earshot before broaching the subject that was visibly stressing her flatmate, and internally twisting her in knots too.

"So, you said you wanted to show me something. What is it?"

Marla nodded, apparently having lost her voice as she pulled a piece of paper from her bag. She just held it for a second, taking a deep breath and putting her other hand back into her bag as she slid it across the table.

It was the photo of the trial that Kati had found in her book on her first day here. Khan, standing proudly front and centre, Kati and Joaquin on his left and right, and besides them Otto and the now dead McPherson. Kati picked it up, her face a careful blank. She was tempted to rip it in half, spill her coffee on it, do something to destroy this evidence that could shatter everything she and Khan worked for. But that would hardly erase the problem, no doubt electronic copies of the photograph existed for those savvy enough to look for them. Besides, just because Marla had this photo didn't mean she understood the full meaning of it. She might yet still only be seeing Khan in it, and Kati couldn't afford to show her hand early.

"What about it?" She asked carefully, "You can't possibly think this is the man-"

Marla was smiling bitterly and shaking her head, before cutting Kati off;

"What, you've been in hiding so long you don't even recognise a picture of yourself anymore?" She accused sardonically. Her hand slipped back out of her bag, under the table and Kati caught the glint and smooth shape of what could only be a phaser.

 _Oh, she has no idea the kind what kind of mistake she's making,_ Kati thought darkly. Her instincts had already been clawing at her in the chaos of the day, she had longed for action, and now here she was with a weapon pointed at her under the table and her warrior instincts cried for a reply. She could quite easily get the weapon off the other without giving her any chance to discharge it, and turn the tables. She couldn't shoot, even to stun her here, it was too visible. She could compel her into the bathroom or back to their flat however, and there she could soon extract the information about how much the woman had told anyone else of her suspicions. Then all that remained would be to dispose of her, which in a city in distress could easily be made to look like a tragic result of the earlier explosion.

But even as the soldier in her planned, the softer, more human side she had been getting better acquainted with over the past year pushed back. This was Marla, her ally, her _friend_. Sure, she had killed those who once meant as much to her during the Eugenics Wars, but they were at war and both sides understood their positions. Marla was just confused, frightened and shaken by the day's events. She could still be talked around, if Kati could just ignore the phaser, and no one needed to get hurt.

"Marla-" she tried, gently,

"Don't you dare patronise me by trying to deny it!" Marla cut her off again, oblivious to Kati's internal struggle, "You're always so evasive, you never talked about your past. I always just thought you'd got out of a bad relationship or something, or maybe you were abused, so I let you keep your secrets, hoping maybe one day you'd trust me with them. I never thought this would be it. Even though I saw it, the very time I saw you, I thought straight away of that picture and how much you looked like her. I figured it was just a coincidence. Or perhaps, you were a descendant, some kind of throwback, or maybe it was just me, so obsessed with history I was even seeing the people I studied in the faces of those around me. But you couldn't actually be _her_ , after all this time. But now Khan is here too, and I would know that face anywhere. You can't convince me that two lookalikes in the same city, one apparently trying to start a war, is a coincidence. You _are_ them, it was him in your room last night, and you were planning this… whatever it is…"

Marla's voice was getting higher and louder and close to hysterical, forcing Kati to glance about to check that no-one was close enough to overhear. They weren't, but she didn't like this all the same, she needed to get Marla somewhere more private to have this conversation.

"Marla, please." She begged in hushed tones, "I'm not denying it, but we can't have this conversation here. Come back to the flat with me, and we can talk about this."

"Do you think I'm stupid?" Marla laughed a little tearily, "I chose to meet you in public for a reason. I might not know anything about what you are planning, but I know that just knowing who you are means I know too much. And I know how ruthless your people are-"

"You know we're not as bad as we were portrayed, you wrote the paper on it!"

"That was just a stupid theory." Marla's free hand dashed away tears from her cheeks as she denied her life's work.

"No, it was a theory before I came along and helped you to the truth." Kati told her firmly, struggling to keep her patience while itching with awareness of the weapon under the table.

"The truth? You've been lying to me since we met, how can I believe anything you say is the truth?"

That stung, but Kati knew she deserved it to a degree. This was the heart of Marla's problem, she was sure. If Kati had told her on her own terms, she might have accepted it all without question, but figuring it out on her own like this had left its bad taste in Marla's mouth, making their friendship seem invalidated, and hardening her towards her friend's pleas. Kati had to keep trying though, if she was ever going to believe her people could be better than Marla seemed to think they were right now. "Let me explain. Please. Just not here."

"Here is fine." Marla stubbornly insisted, backing up her words by drawing the phaser out from under the table behind the cover of a menu, to outright threaten Kati with it.

That was it. The open threat was more than Kati could bear and her control snapped. Baring her teeth in a snarl she lashed out across the table faster than Marla could anticipate, snatching the phaser from her clutches and turning it back on her. Her thumb swiped the setting up to kill without a thought, and her finger tightened around the trigger to within a hairsbreadth of firing.

"If I really thought you were a threat to me I'd have fired this without hesitation, in public or not." She hissed at the girl opposite her, pale and trembling in her seat. She let the moment stretch out, taking some big breaths to calm herself, before she eased off the trigger, flicked it back to stun and raised it, holding up both hands in a sign of peace. "But you're my friend. So I'm giving you a choice. You can come home with me, and I will answer all your questions. Or you can walk out that door, give up your studies on the Eugenic Wars, drop out of Uni and forget you ever met me. You'll never have to see me again - Unless you tell anyone about us of course, because I will find out, and then you would leave me no choice but to hunt you down and eliminate you. So what will it be?"

At first Kati thought she'd given her friend too much of a scare to make any decision, as she sat frozen across the table, staring at her like she'd never seen her before. Then she saw the small changes of the woman steeling herself; her jaw tightening, spine straightening, lungs pulling in deeper, steadying breaths rather than the small panicked ones she had been taking. Finally she dragged her eyes away from the dangerous creature opposite her, darting them quickly towards the door and then back again, as she made her decision.

"Lets go home." She announced in a surprisingly strong and steady voice.

Kati nodded, relaxing and downing her tea before getting to her feet. She glanced down at her attire, realising she had nowhere to stow the phaser, and with little to no hesitation, thrust it back in Marla's direction, handle first.

"Put that back in your bag, I don't want to get arrested wandering around with it."

"You're giving _me_ the phaser back?" Marla asked in shock, taking it and doing as she was told.

Kati didn't answer aloud, just a look was enough to communicate her thoughts. _Try and use it on me and I'll snap you like a twig before you can pull the trigger._

"Come on, finish your tea and let's go." She said instead, switching to a reassuring smile. Marla smiled weakly back, drained her cup and fell into step besides her friend. They were outside before she found her voice again.

"So when you say you'll answer all my questions…?" She ventured.

Kati laughed genuinely, glad to hear her friend's inquisitive nature winning back through.

"All of them." She assured, knowing her friend would want the full story of their history, as much as to know what was going on now.

"And Khan… Could I maybe… meet him?" Marla asked shyly, her eyes shining with excitement at the prospect.

Kati felt the lead weight of the situation drop in her stomach again, and her mouth turned down. She could feel Marla watching her, and didn't want to let her friend down, but she had managed to strike upon the only question Kati had no answer for right now.

"I hope so." She admitted, "but it might be too late."

* * *

 _AN: It's all happening now. Thanks to Galwidanatitud, Elbafo, Kat and Jaymis Scott for your reviews, and welcome aboard any new followers :)_


	6. Up For The Challenge

**Chapter 6 - Up For The Challenge**

The university was back to business as usual the next morning, but neither Kati nor Marla attended. Marla had finally crawled into bed around three am, after hours grilling Kati for every detail of the Augment's past. Kati had glued herself once again to the news feeds, and to Starfleet's communication logs, trying to keep abreast of every development in her princes plan.

"Any news?" Marla greeted her around lunchtime, padding across the kitchen in bare feet and pyjamas to the replicator for her first tea of the day.

"The attack on Starfleet HQ was a success. He'll be on Kronos by now, waiting for them to follow him."

Marla's lips pursed for a second in disapproval.

"By a success you mean… the man he planned to kill…" she couldn't even say it, not directly. Kati thought it was an odd dichotomy that she could fawn over the idea of the merciless warrior when it was all history, she could understand that the things they'd done in the war were justified, but when it came to the secret war they were fighting now, the idea that they had planned to kill one man she didn't even know, seemed to turn her stomach.

"Yes." Kati answered the unspoken question remorselessly. "It was necessary, Marla, you know that. Starfleet themselves recognise that the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, what is one mans life if it can help prevent a war that could kill thousands?" Kati tried to comfort her.

"I know." Marla agreed, thought she still looked unhappy about it. "I know, I just..." she hesitated, blowing on her tea to cool it quicker and taking a fortifying sip. "I just don't like it. It feels so wrong, knowing a man was going to be killed in cold blood and doing nothing to stop it. I feel complicit."

"There was nothing you could have done to stop it." The fact that Kati herself would have stopped her if she tried, by any means necessary, went unspoken. Not that she didn't understand what Marla was feeling, the whole situation left a bad taste in her own mouth, but brooding on those feelings would do them no good. Moving on, following the latest developments and planning accordingly was all that mattered now.

"I know." Marla repeated, with a soft sigh. Kati saw out of the corner of her eye, Marla checking her phone, no doubt full of messages from their friends as her own had been, before she came and sat besides her. If she left more of a gap between them then she used too, Kati chose not to let the pain it caused her show on her face. She was still here, at least. "What are you doing?" She asked.

"Working on my defence for Khan." Kati answered, returning her attention to her PADD. "The list of charges he will face on his return to Earth has already been broadcast." The list was sitting in a separate window at the top of her screen, and Marla whistled when he saw it. The terms 'Terrorist activity' and 'Second degree murder' particularly stood out, amongst several other lesser charges.

"Where do you even begin with all that?"

"Right here." Kati said with a smug twitch of her lips as she pulled up an article and showed it to Marla. The trial notes were just hours old, and the face pictured alongside them was recognisable from the news broadcasts. "Thomas Harewood, the man Khan recruited to blow up the archive and Section 31 beneath it. He was tried posthumously and pronounced innocent on account of coercion. Khan used the fact his daughter was dying of cancer as leverage, offering to cure her if Harewood did as he asked. Not a far cry from Marcus threatening Khans family, it should be a simple matter to make a jury see that."

"And did he?" Marla asked after a beat.

"Did he what?" Kati asked distractedly, as she perused the notes of another similar case to bolster her argument.

"Did he cure the girl?" Kati picked up an off note in Marla's voice, and glanced over, taking in her friends shocked expression.

"Of course, her medical report was the clincher of the trial, not a trace left in her system."

"How?"

"Some expert on Augments you are." Kati finally chuckled at Marla's continued shock. She set aside her PADD to turn and face her. "Our antibodies were also affected by the augmentation process we were put through, as such we are immune to any sort of disease, radiation, you name it. To cure the girl, he simply had to give her a small infusion of blood."

"Did they know this? Back in your time?"

"Well, yes, of course. You are wondering why cancer persists if we had a cure years ago?" She surmised. She had been surprised herself on waking up in this time to find out it was still a problem. "They must have been unable to separate the effect from our blood, and as augmentation is illegal they obviously couldn't make more after we left."

"Huh... you'd have thought they would have thought of that before sentencing you guys to death." Marla huffed, beginning to thaw out from the shock.

"Maybe they did, but I doubt they'd be able to justify to a jury keeping us alive simply to farm our blood for medical use." Kati answered darkly. "We did make donations of our own free will while Khan was in power. Now there's something for your paper, check the medical records for that time period, you'll see a sharp decrease in deaths by prolonged illnesses."

Marla wasted no time scooping up her PADD to do just that, and Kati returned to her own work. The news broadcasts continued to murmur in the background, overlaid by the tapping of their fingers against screens. When the tapping from her friends direction stopped for several minutes, Kati glanced over, and when brown, desperate eyes cut away from hers, the last pieces of the puzzle fell into place. She didn't waste time waiting for Marla to work up the nerve to ask her what she clearly wanted to, more than willing to comply. Getting up and circling around to the kitchen, she programmed the replicator for a vacuum syringe.

"Can I ask who this is for?" She casually inquired as she siphoned a small sample of her blood into the tube.

Understanding sinking in of what Kati was doing, Marla stood and came closer, gratitude and relief written starkly across her features. "My mum. She was diagnosed just before we met I thought I... I thought I'd mentioned."

"You hadn't." Though now she mentioned it, pieces started falling into place. Pieces of overheard phone calls; 'what did the doctor say?', 'when is your next appointment'. And Marla's muted demeanour after such calls, as she threw herself into her art or study, no doubt to distract herself. Marla had always said she was fine when asked however, and so Kati had believed it. She had assumed Marla's mother just got sick a lot and that the maladies weren't serious. She felt marginally guilty now for not enquiringly more or offering to do something sooner, but it was an irrational feeling. Marla didn't know who she was or what she was capable of at the time, and her own mission couldn't be jeopardised. And with that it mind... "How long do they estimate she has?"

"They caught it early, and the treatments have been going well, so they think years. Doesn't stop me worrying though."

Kati nodded and held out the vial, but didn't let go immediately as Marla grasped it. She needed her listening to her next words. "Then you have time to wait before using this, and I suggest you do. If she gets miraculously better this soon after what Khan did, people are going to ask questions, they may think you are in league with him." And if they were looking closely at her flat mate, she probably wouldn't escape notice either, and she couldn't have that.

"Am I not?" Marla asked with raised eyebrows. They both knew that with everything she now knew, she would be seen as such. "Don't worry, I may not have your intelligence, but I'm not stupid. As long as I know it's possible, I can wait."

"Just until this is over, I can make my defence of Khan and our people, and all will be well." Conviction. That's all she needed, and she could make her will reality, as Khan had many times over.

"I'll let you get back to it then. Is there anything I can do to help?" Marla asked, hiding the vial away in one of her bags of art supplies. Kati had to hand it to her, it wasn't a bad hiding place.

"Finish your paper. If I'm going to use you as an expert witnesses on Augments in my trial, you need to have some published articles out there."

It Marla was shocked that Kati expected her to stand witness for her, she took it well. Arming themselves with more tea, they resumed their places in the living room, working side by side, and sometimes overlapping in their respective, self imposed, assignments. The tension that had hung over them since Marla had uncovered the truth now completely dissipated, leaving only the united strain of the Augments current situation.

As an Augment, Kati needed far less sleep than the average human, but even she was starting to feel the strain. She hadn't slept since Khan's visit, following the unfolding story with increasing hopelessness and helplessness.

Even from across the Atlantic they could see when the USS Vengeance fell out of the sky, half the University walking out of their classrooms to watch the descent in shock and fear. Amid a sea of curious onlookers, Kati was the only one who knew what it meant; something had gone wrong, terribly wrong, and all Khan's plans were failing. She walked back into her classroom when it was over with a perfect poker face, playing her part even though the chances she would have anyone left to defend had plummeted. Marla, not nearly such a good actress, had left her own class on the pretence of being ill, and had all the relevant news channels and articles ready for her when she got home. These she supplemented by hacking into Starfleet's secure server for reports, and soon had the full picture. It was a troubling one. But she could work with it; her lord, her family, they were all alive. Khan had painted himself black it was true, he hadn't made her job easy, but she was up for the challenge. She just had to make sure it landed in her lap. A few more taps of the keyboard on the Starfleet server, and she was all set to go.

* * *

"Heather, Kathryn, If you could both stay behind a few minutes, I have something I would like to discuss with you." Professor Austin announced as the class started packing up for the day. His face was placid behind his glasses, hardened by years of working in law before teaching it, but Kati could read the small signs to know this was it. He was excited to have his students involved in such a big case, determined to have them reflect well on him. That's why he was picking his two brightest, just as Kati knew he would. She kept her own thoughts far better hidden on her face, reflecting only a mild curiousity. Heather was neutral as only a Vulcan could be.

"Sir?" She inquired politely as they came to a stop in front of his desk.

"I'm sure you ladies have been keeping up to date with the current news, all this nasty business with Khan and Starfleet?" At their nods he continued. "Good. Because what you may not know, is that as an educational institution itself, with ties to the federation enabling it to conduct its own legal proceedings, Starfleet has been known on occasion to invite law students from universities around the world to play a part in their trials. And Kings College has been chosen to send two students to represent both Khan, and Starfleet in the upcoming trial. This is a great opportunity for you girls, and should you choose to accept it, I'm sure you'll make the College proud."

"I accept." Kati immediately responded, not bothering to conceal her eagerness, as it would simply be read as ambition.

"As do I."

"Great. You may wish to drop your other assignments, or find someone to take them over if you wish, as you will need to give this project all your focus. And you will receive generous academic credit for this, of course. Heather, you shall be representing the defendant, Khan Noonein Singh, and Kathryn, you will be handling the prosecution on behalf of Starfleet and the Federation."

No! Everything in Kati's mind was shrieking in protest as with one simple decision, her professor threatened to derail all their plans. And with the violent reaction of her mind came the instinctual preparations of her body for actual violence; her pupils dilating, her heart pounding harder, muscles tensing. But even in its panic, her mind knew this was not the answer, and so forced herself to relax. All was not lost, she could recover it. She couldn't outright ask to swap, it may arouse suspicion, and seem out of character. But she could manipulate. The old lawyer and teacher would be difficult, familiar with all kind of plays, but the Vulcan with her perfectly controlled emotions would be hardest. And yet, where she may lack the motivators of pride or greed, there was still a sense of duty that could aid her in her quest.

"Looks like I may beat you yet." She muttered to her quarry with a calculated smug grin. Then she watched the cogs turn in Heather's mind, following through to a logical conclusion which would lead her to suggest...

"Sir, perhaps it would be better if I represented the Federation, and Kathryn was to represent Khan. After all, I have not yet lost a case, and doing so in this instance could lead to a dangerous criminal to be allowed to go free."

"Excuse me? Are you really so up yourself you can't even consider the possibility I could win?" Kati demanded, the perfect picture of outrage.

"Considering possibilities is what Vulcans do best, and calculating probabilities. And given both of our current success ratios in class, again other students and each other, there is a very high probability that I will win, in which case we should consider the ramifications-,"

"Screw you and your probabilities! I -,"

"Ladies! That's enough." Professor Austin cut them off, interjecting himself between them as though he feared things could become physical. That was enough to suggest to Kati that she might be overplaying her hand, or perhaps letting some of her earlier anger bleed though to much, and she checked herself. Once the tension in the air had eased, the professor continued, "Kathryn, you will represent Khan, and Heather the federation, but not for the reason you suggested." He turned more fully to face the confused looking Vulcan.

"Heather, I am disappointed in you. You forget the fundamental rule, innocent until proven guilty. How could you make a good defence of the man when you yourself have already decided upon his guilt before even taking the case?"

"Sir, you forget I am Vulcan, I am perfectly capable of putting aside personal feelings and opinions in order to do my job." The young woman defended herself.

"I forget nothing. A cultural advantage does not allow you to skip over the fundamentals." He reprimanded, before turning back to include Kati in the conversation. "This may be an outside case, but you are still my students, and I expect to see you applying everything I have taught you out there. I expect I'll see no such bias from you Kathryn?"

"No, Sir." She allowed herself a small smirk. "So when do I- We, meet our clients?"

"We've a jump ship scheduled for the end of the week to take us to San Francisco where the case shall be examined. The crew of the starship Enterprise will all be available for interviews and depositions there. However, I am afraid to say Kathryn, that your client will be unavailable for the entirety of the trial. He has been deemed both a flight risk, and a danger to himself and others, and so shall remain under stasis for the foreseeable future."

"You mean he won't even be able to give testimony in his own defence?" Kati fought to keep her voice neutral, despite a cold fury washing over her. It was an outrage, just like their first trial! Okay this time Khan has her, but the humans didn't know that, not really, they didn't know she knew many of the details she did, that only he would know. And still they denied him a voice! If that was the humans idea of a fair trial, she didn't even know if she could win. No amount of training, knowledge and reasoning could convince those who simply didn't want to hear it.

"That is correct. I understand that will make your case hard, but it is not hopeless." The professor said soothingly, though he understood little of the depths of her outrage. "You are one of my best. Between evidence and cross-examination, you could still make a compelling case. That is if you're still up for the challenge."

The weak goad brought a small smile back to Kati's lips, and she nodded gratefully at the Professor for it. She was an Augment, she reminded herself, she was better than any challenge the humans could throw at her.

"Bring it on."

* * *

 _AN: Okay firstly, allow me to apologise for just how long it's been since I updated this story. This is why I usually write the majority of a story before I even think about posting it. I finally learned to drive (yay) which has meant all the time I used to spend writing on the bus has disappeared. Also I may have got distracted by the MCU fandom and writing fics about that with one of my friends. (At least one of which I plan to start posting on here soon, but thought you guys waiting so patiently deserved an update first.)_

 _Also sorry for any errors in that one, my husband/editor didnt check it for me._

 _Thank you to everyone who has been patiently waiting for this story and for all the reviews and follows. Keep them coming and hopefully I'll get the next one up far sooner._


	7. And Then There Is This Captain Kirk

**Chapter 6 - And Then There Is This... Captain Kirk**

"I'm not sure if I can do this."

Silence met Kati's quiet confession, nothing but the soft blue light illuminating her face from the pods of her slumbering brethren. The urge to start the sequencing to wake them was strong, but she knew she was taking enough of a risk just being here. It was a needless risk; her whole case as well as her own freedom could be jeopardised if she were discovered breaking in after they had rejected her request to see them. And there was nothing she could gain in terms of building her case from being in here. And yet, that same longing that had drove her to Saturn Five all those months ago had pulled her in, and here she was. She was sure Khan would understand, just as he had her need to be near him in the club. What he would be less likely to understand was her confession if he had been capable of hearing it.

"It's not that I... I am not uncertain of my purpose, or my case. I have all the evidence I need, between your confession to the Captain about how Marcus manipulated you, the Vulcan's honest report on how they deceived you, and the information I have fed Marla about our people that she can testify about your character... the case is sound. And I shall give nothing short of my best in delivering it. But despite all my efforts and the evidence, I still don't know if it will be enough.

"A jury is supposed to be fair because it is as free from of bias as is possible. But in this case, I don't believe it is possible. We are a part of their basic history education and you know as well as I do that we were not remembered fondly. That alone casts an unfavourable light, but with everything that has happened since... the whole world has been following this story. Many saw with their own eyes the USS Vengence fall from the sky and watched the fallout on every news feed. They say 128 died in the crash. Add to that the 42 in the London bombing, those killed on the Enterprise, and Marcus, and that's 194 lives they hold you accountable for. Small figures I know compared to those we saw in the war, but huge to them.

"I understand it now. We always strove for peace, believed at one point we had attained it, but not the way I have come to know it in the last year. I have built a life, the beginnings of a career, and made friends. Close friends, acquaintances, friends of friends. Lots of little people with their own lives and dreams who have never known anything but those lives, not the daily struggles of war, or politics. That is what each one of those lives was, each a terrible loss on its own, touching so many other lives and rippling the hurt and sorrow outward. That's why they think you're a monster. Maybe you are. Maybe we all are."

She paused a second to consider that thought as it tumbled from her mouth. She had grown so much, in ways she had never expected since waking up in this century. But she would never even attempt to deceive herself that she was, at her core, anything but a hardened fighting machine. Her understanding of the trauma the world felt in the wake of Khan's actions was just that; head-knowledge, lip service at best, she didn't truly _feel_ it. The only sorrow she felt was for how the actions affected the plight of her own people, for the frustration of carefully laid plans. And then some for this man in front of her; so deceptively peaceful in his forced sleep, when his last conscious thoughts were those of rage and pain at losing all he loved. Perhaps they were both monsters, if you could be a monster and still have a love as fierce as they did for their family.

But she was becoming sidetracked. This had little to do with the case, and she still had so many concerns about it that she needed to air.

"And then there is this... Captain Kirk. I know Heather will be using him as her star witness, she'd be a fool not to. I haven't to spoken to him yet, thought I'd save it for the stand. He worries me though. Only 25 and he jumped straight from Cadet to Captain of the flagship on his first Voyage and then proceeded to save the planet from a rogue Romulan. That was just last year... probably right before you woke me up. You probably saw it. His career is glittering, and I couldn't find a scrap of dirt on him besides a couple of bar fights before he was recruited. And his infamous womanising ways, both of which are pretty public knowledge. Sure, he broke the 'Prime Directive' last month, and got in a little bit of trouble for it. But in doing so he saved yet another civilisation and he's already been forgiven. He's a hero to so many, Starfleet's very own poster boy and it's his word against ours. We've never been outmatched before, but this Captain, he's a whole different level of dangerous."

She had, of course, considered neutralising the threat he posed, through various means. She couldn't kill him - far too overt, and Marla would never understand. Neither could she reason with him - Khan had already tried that and look how it turned out. And he was far too cunning himself and determined to see Khan face justice to be tricked into leaving for any reason. Seducing him seemed the most likely to succeed, but was equally unlikely to yield much in the way of results. No, this one she would have to handle by-the-books, and hope he'd give her something to work with in cross-examination.

Her mind moved to other contingencies, and her eyes slid away from her prince, to the other softly glowing pods filling the room.

"Sometimes I wonder if I chose the wrong path defending you. The odds of success would be much higher had I chosen to simply fight for the rest of our people, and left you to this time's justice. I know you would willingly sacrifice yourself if it meant their freedom, you already did. But I also know you would never leave a man behind were it possible to save us all. Barring any complications there is no reason why I can't fight both fights if I make this case right. And if it is unsuccessful, I can always devote myself to them afterwards.

"But... I also worry what will become of me when they are freed if you are not with us. The war may have brought our family closer, but I will never forget the early years and how... how I owe my survival of them to you. Without you I fear many would fall back to the old ways of violence and I would have no-one to protect me. And the humans would have no one to protect them." She giggled, bitter, slightly hysterical. "They think you're such a villain, that you would kill them all. They don't know how wrong they are. And I have to try and tell them, and convince them that the rest are perfectly safe when I don't even know that myself. You were the best of us, and so we shaped ourselves around you so much that I don't know who any of my companions would be without you. I'm only just starting to understand who I am. Perhaps giving up on you would be the best thing that could happen for them, but it could also be the worst. That's why I can't do it. That's why we need you. Why I need you.

"I need you so much. I know it's pathetic, I know it is unbecoming of our superior race, I know it would serve no purpose other than to indulge a weakness we have no time for but I just wish you could wake up and tell me that it's all going to be okay." She finally broke down and admitted, a single tear breaking free and rolling down to her chin. She dashed it away ruthlessly, sniffing to drive back any more threatening to emerge. With well practised effort she stilled the hitching of her chest into even breaths and brought her heart rate back to neutral. Marla was a big believer that sometimes a good cry was all you needed, and though her own outbreak had only been small, Kati had to admit she did feel a little better for it.

"It will be okay." She reaffirmed herself, drawing herself up. She took one last look around the room, knowing that the guards would be making their rounds soon, and she needed to get going. She laid a hand on the window of the pod, over his cheek yet too far away. "Good talk, my Lord." She bid him with smirk, before slipping back over to the vent she crawled in through and making her escape.

—

The hotel she had been provided while she stayed in New York for the trial was small, but serviceable. It was simply and compactly laid out with an aesthetically pleasing design and even a few pieces of modern artwork on the wall. She preferred Marla's unique style, but then she wasn't here for the art, and it was certainly more pleasing to the eye than the view from her window. She wasn't sure if it was deliberate or not, or simply a side affect of having quarters near enough to Starfleet HQ, but from here she had a perfect view of the festering wound that was Khan's crash site. Even after a week salvage and emergency crews were still at work, clearing debris from behind bright lines of tape. She had expected to see the ship still embedded in the earth, but apparently a fleet of rescue ships had managed to extract it and haul it back to a starbase for repairs. She closed the curtain as soon as she got into the room, as she had every time, though somehow whenever she went out she would find them open on her return. Her next move was to the rooms main screen.

"Call Marla McGivers." She instructed it, knowing her friend would be waiting. Sure enough, she was quick to skip the pleasantries.

"So, any luck? Would they let you wake anyone?"

"They wouldn't even let me in the building." Kati complained, feeling a similar relief to talk to her friend that she had felt monologuing to Khan. "The official stance is to keep them all in cryo-containment until it's decided what to do with Khan."

"Are you serious? They're giving 72 innocent men and women the same treatment as a criminal on trial? No offence."

"I'm a realist Marla, you don't have to apologise for stating hard truths." She reminded her friend, moving away from the screen to the replicator for a coffee. She welcomed Marla's righteous anger for her family, echoing her own. It gave her something to bounce off of, to play devils advocate and get into the mind of those she was up against, and from there to devise her strategy. "Such as the fact my people are not innocent, we are all convicted criminals who have simply been on the run for the past 300 years."

"That's far more than the maximum sentence I'm sure." Marla pointed out, bringing the lawyer a wry smile. She may have to steal that. "And what about after the trial? If you fail-,"

"Won't happen."

"- And Khan is convicted, will they just keep them in cryo for whatever he's sentenced to? Will they keep finding excuses after that because they're to cowardly to take the chance that there might be good people in there?!"

"Probably." Kati sighed. "If I don't just give up on the justice system and break them out. I have to say their security is nothing compared to Sector 31's. And had we not been so concerned with legitimacy, Khan and I could have broke through that in our sleep."

"Well let's not get ahead of ourselves, we can still hope the legal system pulls though. And if it doesn't, promise you'll warn me before you go breaking any major laws?" Marla cautioned, sounding uncomfortably resigned.

Kati didn't even blink before assuring her. "Of course."

"You already did didn't you."

It was such a pleasant surprise to be caught in a lie like that by her friend. She wondered how she had managed to keep her fooled for so long when she was so sharp. But then, she was a flawless liar. Perhaps that was what gave her away, now Marla knew to expect it.

"It's best for us both if I don't answer that." She smirked, "Don't worry, I promise I didn't harm anyone. I just had to see them."

Marla's face softened in understanding, and she let it go.

"Right, so, did you want to run through it again? You can't be too prepared, right?"

—

The day came around too soon and before she knew it she was standing in the courthouse atrium, pacing as she waited for everyone else involved to arrive. Few people passed her, going about their daily business as if the case of a century weren't about to begin in little over an hour. She shouldn't have got here so early. She had wanted to see everyone as the arrived, the judge, the jury, trying to get their measure in advance, but she had no idea which of these people were here for her case or for others. Other lawyers were easy to spot, smarmy and arrogant. As were the press, lurking like vultures, tapping away on their PADDs or on the phone, cameramen in tow. Jurors and witnesses and those awaiting trail for themselves or their families were much alike, but distinguishable by the different levels of stress in their faces and posture. She felt an odd dysphoria, as she had when she had emerged from her pod, of not belonging, despite her many months training for this. She should be trying better to blend in, careless like the other lawyers, but she couldn't force herself to be still. No one was looking anyway. Or they weren't, until a particular Captain walked in, glanced over the room and made a beeline right for her.

"Hi, Ma'am. I don't suppose you're here for the people vs Khan case are you?" He asked with the flash of a charming smile. His immediate attention and knowing question put her on edge, which is just what she needed to sharpen her focus and bring her wayward feet to a halt.

"That I am. How did you know?" She asked, pulling her professional persona around her like a cloak.

"I have good instincts." He bragged, "I heard we had some students on the council, and judging by your pacing I'm guessing this is your first time in a big courtroom like this."

"It is." She allowed the slightest bit of chagrin to show though. Being underestimated wasn't the worst thing for her strategy.

"Well don't sweat it. Seriously, I've been to dozens of these things, it's not that big'a deal and it's over in no time. But if you're still nervous you can always stick with me, I'll show you the ropes."

Well that was the mystery of why he had made his way straight over to her solved; she was the most attractive woman in the room after all, and he was hitting on her. It seemed his reputation was spot on and seducing him would have been even easier than she had imagined, but it still wasn't a viable plan. And she certainly wasn't interested otherwise, not after his betrayal of Khan and all it had cost them. She smothered the anger thinking about it caused, and hid her revulsion at his attempts to make a cordial reply.

"I think I've got this on my own thank you. Besides, it would be best if were weren't seen to be talking for the duration of the trial. Seeing as you're a witness for the prosecution and I'm the lawyer for the defendant."

"Okay, I get it, you want to be professional. I respect that, it can't be easy for you having to defend that psychopath, am I right? But hey, I want you to know, whatever goes down in that court room I understand. You're just doing your job, you want to get a good grade out of it, so I won't hold it against you. In fact, when this is all over, to prove there's no hard feelings, how about I take you out for a drink? What's your thing, wine, whiskey? You look like a whiskey girl to me."

An eyebrow rose at his dogged persistence. She may even have been amused by it, had her ears not been ringing with his insult to her Prince. If they were back in their time she would have slammed his head into the nearby pillar to teach him some manners, but that was wishful thinking. Though there was something to be said for the way the fire it ignited in her veins melted away her uncertainty and nerves about the case and fuelled her up to go in there and show them all how wrong they were about Khan. She wouldn't waste this feeling on the foolish Captain out here, where it would serve no purpose. She would keep it until she had him on the stand, where she could eviscerate him with words and show the world his true guts.

But for now he was still looking at her expectantly, waiting for her answer to his proposition. She didn't dignify him with one, simply turning and walking away to a nearby bench, and making herself look busy on her PADD.

"I'll take that as a maybe."

* * *

 _AN: See, I promised I wouldnt be away so long this time. Thanks to all those who stuck wii me during my personal hiatus, and to galwidanatitud, Sassiebone, Kat, Tenfangirl and Shadowing for thier reviews last chapter. See you all next time._


	8. A Question of Opinion

**Chapter 8 - A Question Of Opinion**

"... and during this trial I shall present all the evidence that proves Mr. Singh's undeniable guilt and responsibility for the tragedies of the last few weeks." Heather closed her opening statement to the jury. It was a strong start; lots of evocative words, allusions made to his historical villainy and a thorough overview of the path of destruction in his wake.

Kati didn't even break a sweat. She wasn't worried. A little angry, yes, at hearing her Lord smeared like that, but she had been expecting it and was prepared. The whole thing had been predicable almost to the word, and played right into Kati's hands. It was said that no plan survived contact with the enemy, but whoever said that had clearly never done battle beside an Augment.

Even as Heather called the Captain to the stand, and had him recount his dealings with Khan, she felt nothing but surety in her plan. Even a 'wildcard' like Kirk could be anticipated. His story and wording deviated very little from that in his report, save to gloss over a few of his own actions. She'd come back to those. Heather's inquires were brief, to the point, some may say lacking imagination. Obviously she thought Kirk's version of events was damning enough without embellishment, and her hubris would be her downfall. It was time for her cross examination.

"Unprovoked. That's the word you used to describe the way my client opened fire upon the Enterprise after returning you to your ship, Captain. Is that right?" She asked, rising from her table and gliding around it. She took to the centre of the courtroom, keeping a non-threatening distance from her mark.

"Yes it is."

"I'm curious as to how you define unprovoked?" She asked mildly.

"We neither opened fire, or even had a weapons lock on the ship. We had followed his instructions and were preparing to leave." Kirk answered.

"No weapons lock, no, but you had just delivered 72 armed torpedos to his ship."

"I never ordered that. He took them of his own accord." Kirk shrugged, his eyes glittering with humour, like this was all just a game and he was winning. He was wrong, on both counts, but if this could be likened to a game it would be chess. And like any good chess player, she was playing several moves ahead.

"As you knew he would."

"And he evidently didn't, so it couldn't really be called provocation now, could it?"

"Perhaps not. You mentioned it wasn't at your orders, so let's discuss the orders you did give. Such as your order to Mr Scott to stun him as soon as his usefulness ended aboard the Vengence." It was a pleasure to watch how quick Kirks confident smile fell, and she felt no mercy for him. "Without provocation I might add. You don't think that counts as provoking him?"

"That's not... that's not what I said!" Kirk spluttered.

"Are you claiming you didn't order Mr Scott to stun Mr Singh?"

"No, I did, but that's not why."

"So why did you? He had been fully cooperative with your terms for releasing him from his cell, some may even say he went the extra mile. So why suddenly assume hostility to the extent incapacitation was called for?" She asked, with a quick glance at the jury. They were following. Good.

"I..." Kirk hesitated, the cogs in his head visibly turning to come up with a good answer. There was none, as well knew. It was as she said, he had done nothing to warrant it. And so he finally decided on the truth, though she could see in his eyes he knew how little good it would do him. "I had a hunch."

"A hunch." She echoed him derisively. "Well I'm sure your hunches have served you and your crew well in a crisis, Captain, I won't take that from you. But this is a courtroom, and we deal in evidence, not hunches.

"And speaking of crisis, let's talk about Qo'nos shall we?" She changed subject abruptly, not giving him the chance to further justify himself, and keeping him off his game. She was almost having fun. "Your report says there were 5 of you who went down to the surface, who were caught by a border patrol and were severely outnumbered by Klingons when the fighting started. Is that right?"

"Yes, that is correct." He was less cocky now, apprehensive even. She smiled at him to unsettle him further.

"So, how _did_ you get out of that one? Did your team fight them off all on your own?"

"No. We had help." He must have known where this was going. Yet he didn't shrink, he was almost defiant in his honesty, brave in the face of shame.

"From Khan."

"Yes."

"Who then, when the threat was over, promptly lowered his weapon and surrendered."

"After he had demanded to know about the torpedos, yes." She was sure that he thought that would hinder her, but all it did was help her.

"The torpedoes the other augments were hidden in? So to protect his people he surrendered. Following which, as your First Officer reported, you repeatedly beat him, though he was unarmed and unresisting. It's that correct?"

She didn't have look at the jury to know her words hit their mark. She could hear the sharp intakes of breath from here, as she could hear Kirk's muttered curse at his colleague.

"Dammit Spock." He then raised his voice again to normals levels to admit before the court, "That is correct. Not my finest moment."

"Well, this is quite an alarming pattern I'm starting to see arising here. And if my client saw it too, it's no wonder he felt to need to act defensively when he sent you back to your ship. As I understand it you were not the first Starfleet Officer to mistreat my client either. I believe it was to you that he spoke to of his suffering at the hand of Admiral Marcus? Would you please summarise what he told you for the court?"

Judging by his scowl Kirk was clearly unhappy with the way the way she had left their last topic. But she had left him no choice but to move on with her next question, so after a brief pause he answered.

"He said Marcus awoke him alone of his crew and kept the rest as hostages to force him to comply with his demands. He had him make weapons and weaponised ships, all for a war with the Klingons."

"A war he planned to start by having you fire those nukes at Qu'onos in your pursuit of 'John Harrison' and then crippling your ship in their airspace to ensure they knew the humans were responsible. That is correct?"

"That is correct."

"So if that was true, then everything he did up to that point could be considered as under coercion. Your cooperation with him after his confession suggests you believed him, Captain Kirk, do you still?"

This was it, this was the part he could make or break her case. Coercion was going to be a large part of her plea for his innocence, and she had found very little in the way of tangible evidence. She had hoped to get the video Marcus had sent Khan of McPherson's destruction, but it had eluded her. So word of mouth was all she had, and it would be far easier to get the jury to believe it if Starfleet's golden-boy Kirk said he did.

She was sure he did. He had witnessed Khan's anger at Marcus firsthand, and the madness that overcame him from the grief of thinking his family dead. If Kirk had ever doubted it, those emotional displays should have convinced him. But would he say so? As a question of opinion the truth was subjective here, no one could prove perjury if he did not answer honestly. And he clearly didn't want to help make Khan's case. If he wished to undo the damage this cross examination had already done, now was his opportunity. It all came down to how honest of a man he was.

"I believe he was coerced and the other augments were used as leverage, but how many of his actions that accounts for, I wouldn't want to speculate." For a Captain known for his recklessness, It turned out Kirk could be very cautious when he wanted to. Kati had to admit a little bit of respect for him for his honest, yet careful choice of words. "I doubt Admiral Marcus would have had him open fire on a room with him in it, for example."

And then he let himself down, just a little. So blinded by his anger over the death of his former mentor, he couldn't see the real villain even with an arrow pointed at him. It didn't matter though, he had given her more than enough to work with.

"Thank you, Captain. No more questions, your honour." She bowed her head to the judge and returned to her seat, resisting the urge for a smug grin. It was especially difficult when she glanced over at Heather and saw her eyes; the windows to a mind working frantically behind placid features. The Vulcan was rattled.

Her next witness was proof how much Heather had been depending on Kirk's witness. Not another member of the Enterprise crew, as she had been expecting. Not even an eyewitness to any of Khan's actions. Lillian James was a civilian; an Earthborn, American, working mother, whose eldest son had died in the crash of the Vengeance. It was obvious why, even if it was a surprising ploy for a Vulcan. She was appealing to the Jury's emotions, getting them to sympathise with the poor woman, as she poured out her heart about what a good man her son was, and how heartbroken his death left her. And then the clincher; who was to blame for her anguish? Khan. The woman's words were compelling, her distress potent, but as a testimony, it was weak.

"Mrs James, my condolences for the loss of your son." Kati opened her questioning. She was not unsympathetic, she could be kind before doing what was necessary. She kept her voice soft and understanding as she continued, "If you don't mind me asking, where were you when this tragedy happened?"

"At home." She woman sniffed.

"And that is, roughly?"

"Just across the bay."

"So close enough to get a good view of the crash, I imagine?" Kati concluded. She waited for the witnesses nod before continuing, "But not so good you could make out individual people. Tell me, did you see Khan Noonien Singh leave the ship, or any of the chase that followed?"

"Well no, only on the news." The woman was getting anxious now, averting her eyes and shifting in her seat. She had good instincts; though Kati hadn't dropped the comforting persona, she was about to move in for the kill.

"Did you ever lay eyes on Khan Noonien Singh at all?"

"No."

"So why blame just _him_? What about the crew of the Enterprise who blasted his ship out of the sky, causing the crash? What about the the shady Admiral who set this chain of events in motion? Why Khan?" She drew out the last two words, drawing all of Lillian's attention there.

"Because he made the ship crash where it did! They say he directed it at the Starfleet Headquarters on purpose. At my son..." She dissolved into tears again, and Kati felt a stirring of pity. Mercy was not an option however.

"They say? Could you clarify who 'they' are?"

"Everyone, all the news reports, they all say the same thing."

"So what you're saying is that your knowledge of what happened comes entirely though second sources." Kati concluded with a smirk, turning away from the sad sight of the tear stained woman and to the judge. "Your honour I move to have everything this woman had said that pertains directly to Khan struck from the record as by her own confession it is based entirely on hearsay."

"Motion granted." The judge announced.

"Then no further questions."

"Wait what? You're going to forget everything I've said? No! My boy deserves justice!" Lillian started protesting, refusing to move from the stand. The guards moved in to escort her and Kati turned away from the scene, walking back to her seat. She could not shut her ears to the woman's escalating cries however.

"Khan needs to be locked up, he killed my boy! He's a monster! And you're a monster too for defending him!"

Kati didn't have to look to know a finger was pointed in her direction. She could feel it, as heavy as all the eyes in the room. Her steps hesitated, lost in the echo of that accusation. She was a monster. Was she a monster? She had asked herself that question more than once recently. What made a person a monster? Defending someone who may or may not deserve it? Surely not. Not feeling more than a fleeting pity for a woman whose world had been torn from her? Maybe. Some of the real crimes they had committed during the war - not those the humans had accused them of, but those they could not deny... Yes. She had been a monster, and could be a monster if she chose. But that was not all she was, and right now she wasn't a monster at all. She was a lawyer.

"That's enough. She's just doing her job." Somebody said, and just like that Kati's focus returned to the room. Barely a few seconds had passed, and she resumed walking as though nothing had happened. Her hesitation had not been missed though: she could see Heathers Vulcan eyes assessing her shrewdly. She swung by her table on the way back to her own.

"You make this too easy for me, did you really think I wouldn't spot the gaping hole in that testimony?" She goaded, her voice hushed to keep it private.

"I did not, but I was hoping that as a human you would not have the heart to exploit it so. I underestimated you. It will not happen again." Heather returned just as quietly. Kati just smirked in response and carried on back to her table. Heather was wrong on two counts, both that she was human and that she was done being underestimated.

Heathers next and final witness was far stronger. Mark Sutherland was a Starfleet Engineer who had done some work for Sector 31 while Khan was there as 'John Harrison'. He had worked directly with Khan on the missile project and offered some insight into Khan's character for the court - though far more to Kati about his own. Here was a man who was very good at his job, a man used to being the voice of authority in his field with years of experience to back him up. A man _not_ used to being surpassed by someone of Khan's caliber. She could hear the bitterness and jealousy in his voice as he claimed to have sensed something 'not right' about Khan from the start. The more he spoke of how superior Khan behaved the more he highlighted his own feeling of inferiority. That wasn't to say that Khan couldn't be pompous at times, particularly when dealing with humans. He was well aware of his own brilliance and was used to dealing with his own kind who could at least semi keep up. But being arrogant does not make one a villain, as the engineer was suggesting. And when Mr Surtherland even went as far as to give his opinion that Khan hid his people in the missiles, not to smuggle _them_ out, but to steal the weapons for himself, it was more than she could take.

"Objection! Supposition."

The judge overruled it, as she knew he would. Without Khan here much of her own case would be built on supposition, and they all knew it, so flexibility on both sides had to be allowed. Still it made her feel marginally better to have opposed such ludicrous claims.

"Defence, the witness is yours." The judge announced as Heather returned to her seat. Kati stared at Mr Sutherland for a second, considering her next move. She had of course seen his name in discovery and done her homework. She had found nothing in his records to easily discredit him, and doubted 5 minutes of questioning would yield strong results on the matter. What it would do would give him more time to spout his sensational opinions, and that was the last thing she needed.

"No questions, your honour."

The trial had already lasted most of the day, and so with Heather calling her prosecution to a close, the judge adjourned the court, to reconvene the following day for the defence. Overall Kati was quite satisfied with how things were going so far, but her mind was still abuzz calculating their odds of success and what she could do to improve them. Professor Austin stopped her briefly on her way out to commend her, but she hardly heard his words. The hairs on the back of her neck stood up in warning of... something, and she glanced around her peripheral, still nodding in all the right places to the professor. Over his shoulder she could see the eyes of the woman, Lillian James, glaring accusingly at her. She didn't like that look, or the way her body was reacting to it, preparing for fight or flight. Choosing the later as a safer option, she excused herself from her teacher, and made her way swiftly towards the exit.

Another voice tried to call to her on her way out the building, and she saw the Captain of the Enterprise making his way towards her again. She ducked her head, making a show of ignoring him as she hurried down the steps and onto the street. The reflection on one of the transports, waiting in a line to take them back to their hotels, told her he was still following. If she jumped into one of the shuttles, he would only follow, and then she would be stuck in a confined space with her for the duration of the journey. But the street may be busy enough to lose him in. Merging into the crowd, she quickly let her hair down and shed her jacket. She crossed the road and changed direction as the transport pulled away and hid her for a second. Walking back past the courthouse, she could see Kirk stopping in the street, turning this way and that in search of her, only to give up.

The unfortunate side effect of her detour was having to walk past the wreckage that once was Starfleet Headquarters. Now it was just rubble. Rubble that taunted her, judged her for defending the one who had caused it. Somewhere amid that rubble, Thomas James had met his end, crushed under the path of the juggernaut. And not just him. A surviving wall at the edge of the destruction had been plastered with photos, flowers and candles for the other deceased. Names leapt out at her, and titles - Mum, Dad, Son, Daughter - all proof of the lives that had been lost that day.

They never had this, back in her time. The numbers were too great, and her kind not so inclined to sentiment. There had been a battle, not far from here, in the second Eugenics War. But you would not find an epitaph listing the names of her brothers and sisters, who fell valiantly fighting to defend those they thought could not save themselves. It had been such a waste, as was this.

That was why she was doing this, why she was fighting for Khan. It was bigger than him or her, it was about the fate of her people. They would not keep getting sidelined, they would not be shoved aside and forgotten as if they sacrifices they once made meant nothing. They would not be labelled criminals because the humans suddenly decided they couldn't stomach the means to the end. They would have freedom, they would have peace, so that this kind of destruction would not have to happen again.

By the time she reached the hotel she felt a renewed sense of purpose. A quick shower washed away the memory and still settling dust from her walk home, and gave her a chance to work her thoughts into her plan. She had barely finished redressing when she started tapping away on her PADD, getting her ideas down.

"Incoming call from Marla McGivers" the computer chirped not five minutes later.

"On screen" she commanded, barely glancing up from her tablet. "Hey Marla."

"Hi. Is it not a good time, you look busy? I was just checking in since I didn't get called to beam over today. They said we wouldn't get called after five, but I waited until six anyway. Are things not going so well?"

"It's going fine, pretty much as expected." One more finishing touch to her sentence and she was done, pushing a stray hair back as she finally looked up at her friend. Marla was dressed in her best pantsuit, and radiating nervous energy. "Heather just dragged out the prosecution is all, I haven't even started my defence yet. Which is good because it gives me a little time to revise my strategy. We should be good to go tomorrow morning."

"Okay, that's good." Marla nodded, calming a little. "How did it go with the Captain? Did you tear him a new one for beating on Khan?"

Marla's vehement dislike of Captain Kirk made Kati chuckle a little. Once she had said he was 'the next Great Man of this century', but her view had changed radically after hearing of his encounter with Khan.

"Now Marla, he's the people's hero, going in to heavy could have upset the jury. I just-,"

A knock on the door gave her pause. Who could be calling for her at this time? She didn't know anyone in San Fransisco beside those who came with her. She had spoke to the professor at the courthouse, and Heather would keep a professional distance until it was over. Another glance showed Marla still their apartment, waiting for her to finish.

"What is it?" Her friend asked, leaning around as if she could get a better view of the room that way.

"The door." Kati answered softly. She strained her ears for a clue, but could only hear a steady heartbeat the other side of the door and the regular bustle of hotel life beyond it.

"Are you expecting anyone?"

"No." Two more possibilities occurred to the Augment. The Captain had seemed eager to talk to her as she left. Or the Woman. It was not unheard of for distraught family members feeling unsatisfied with the outcome of a trial to attempt to get their own justice - not just on the perpetrator, but on those of the justice system they viewed as failing their loved one. The way she had stared at her as she was leaving and how it made her feel came vividly back to mind. "You should go, I'll call you back once I've dealt with this."

"Wait! Kati I don't like that look in your eyes, tell me what you think is-,"

"Disconnect call."

The screen blinked to black, taking her friends face with it. Marla would worry, as humans do, but she would have to wait. Hopefully this would be over quickly. Kati slipped out from behind the desk, moving with fluid grace and silent feet across the room. There was nothing to hand that she could use as a weapon, but that wasn't a problem, she was more than capable without. She paused just before the door, shifting her stance to appear casual, while ready to strike, and opened it wide.

Captain Kirk stood on the other side, looking far more casual out of his uniform and sporting a worn leather jacket.

"Hey. So about that drink?"

* * *

 _AN: A nice long one for you this time, i had trouble deciding where to break up this and the next few scenes, and decided to go for dramatic effect. ;)_

 _Thanks to all those who have been patient enough to wait for me to update, sorry they are a bit slow coming. And huge thanks to those who reviewed as well, Sassiebone, Shadowing, Kat and Tenfangirl :)_


	9. Battle of Wits

**Chapter 9 - Battle of Wits**

Kati carefully analysed the Starfleet Captain leaning in her doorframe. His smile was warm and genuine, reaching his eyes. But there was something else there too, extra lines around them that wasn't just mirth. Worry lines. His heartbeat was steady, calm, so the stress wasn't to do with his purpose here. More likely it was the case. She partly hoped it was her words weighing on his mind, making him troubled about his previous actions, but that would be foolishly optimistic.

She moved on with her assessment, noting that his communicator had gone along with the uniform. He was here off-the-record. He was not without his phaser though, tucked casually into the back of his jeans like some kind of cowboy. He didn't seem super-aware of it though, there was no tautness in the muscles surrounding it, or hands hovering near it. He hadn't brought it with the intent to use it, it was just there because that's where it usually was. Satisfied that he wasn't a threat, she relaxed her posture to mirror his lean, and addressed his question.

"The trial isn't over yet, Captain Kirk. You know we can't be seen together." Not that she wished to be seen with him anyway, but she didn't want to push him away too hard until she was certain of his intentions here.

"Jim, please, I'm not on duty." He corrected with a boyish smile, "And I had a feeling you might say that which is why I brought the drinks to you." Peeling himself away from the wall, he stooped slightly to grab a bottle of whiskey from the floor behind the doorframe, and ducked past her into her room. She could have stopped him, if she wanted to. But now she was more certain than ever that there was more to this visit than flirting. Clearly he had something he wished to talk about, in private. Whatever it was had to be important, at least to him, and she couldn't risk not hearing it in case it could also be important to them. So she allowed his passage, checked the hallway for human or mechanical watchers, and then closed the door behind them.

'Jim' was coming out of the bathroom as she turned, the pair of glass tumblers from beside the sink in his other hand. He set them down on the desk, pouring a little of the whiskey into each one. She recognised the bottle from Saturn Five; top shelf, very fine. He was sparing no expense on wooing her, for whatever purpose. She accepted the glass with a small smile, seating herself at the desk chair - the only chair. Where he chose to sit would say a lot about his intentions. Interestingly he chose to perch his backside on the edge of the desk, close but not too close to her. Not overly familiar, casual, yet putting him in a position where he was physically looking down on her. It looked like she was speaking to the Captain after all.

"Great job in the courtroom today, by the way. I mean, I don't know much about lawyering, but you were certainly running circles around me, and everyone else in there." He opened after a small sip of whiskey. He was taking it slow, not wanting to dull his mind. Her tolerance was much higher, of course, but she did likewise anyway.

"Why thank you."

"Y'see the problem is... there's a lot more at stake here than just your grade. I have to warn you, if you carry on the way you are, you are dangerously close to allowing a very serious threat loose on the streets. You understand that, right?"

So that was what this was about. She leaned back in her chair, away from the desperate earnestness of his gaze and answered coolly, "Innocent until proven guilty, Captain."

"Jim." He insisted. "And let's cut the lawyer B.S shall we? This isn't the courtroom, this is just you, and me, and this lovely whiskey, off the record. And we both know that that man is a dangerous psychopath."

"Dangerous? Yes. Anyone can be dangerous is desperate enough circumstances. You... me." She bared her teeth in a shark-like smile, her eyes full of promise. For the briefest of seconds a small part of Kirk reacted to the threat appropriately, with a frisson of unease. But it passed quickly and he smiled back, chuckling like it was a joke. He had no idea how true it was. Now was not the time to show her hand though, so she carried on. "And we already established he was under pretty desperate circumstances. But a psychopath? Psychopaths kill without reason, or because they think it's 'fun'. That's not what I saw in the reports on Khan Noonien Singh. Every death, every action violent or otherwise had purpose. Most of the time to save other lives, that doesn't sound like a psychopath to me, it sounds damn close to heroic. You seem to think if he's set loose he'll go on a one-man murder spree, but do you know what I think? I think if he, and his people, were all brought out of suspension together, promised their lives and offered peace, they would choose to go in peace, and our problems with them would be over."

"Well that's an... interesting theory." Kirk said diplomatically, his face the picture of doubt. He was humouring her like a parent did a child, pretending to listen but ultimately dismissing everything she said like she didn't have a clue. It could be frustrating, to a less patient being than herself. "But what if you're wrong? A lot of people could use their lives before we have a chance to stop him. If we could stop him, we barely did this time, yet alone with an army of equally strong augmented soldiers backing him up. You want to take that risk?"

"And what's the alternative? Leaving him and 72 other untried individuals in stasis indefinitely? That's hardly justice or rehabilitation. And then in another few hundred or thousands years when someone wakes them him up again, he'll have even more reason to hate humanity, and that future generation won't know what hit them. That's not solving the problem, it's passing it along. Do _you_ want to take _that_ risk? Wouldn't it be better to resolve this now, own up to our mistakes, make reparations and give Khan the chance to do likewise?"

Kirk shook his head. He ran his spare hand though his hair as he got up to pace. He was conflicted, Kati could see it. He was, as Khan had said, very moral, and couldn't abide the faults in Starfleet's plans once she had pointed them out to him. He could not fault her logic either. And yet part of him was so desperately against extending any trust to Khan, and he could not get past it. Something eluded her when it came to understanding Kirk's mindset, a central piece to the puzzle that she simply didn't have. But she could gain it, with patience. He was here to talk, and talk he would as long as she left an empty void for him to speak into. She carried on sipping her drink as she watched him wear a trench in the carpet. Finally he found his words, and spun to face her.

"There is something you don't know. Something known only by a few. It's highly classified, but if you can keep a secret..."

"Done. This is now a privileged conversation, anything you have to say to me you can say in confidence." Technically she wasn't his lawyer, so attorney/client privilege did not apply, and they both knew it. But the reminder that keeping secrets was a part of her job as well was enough for Kirk. He sunk down to sit on the end of the bed facing her with all seriousness.

"I assume you have heard of Ambassador Spock of New Vulcan?" He started, an unexpected segue. But she had done her research on all major political players when she arrived in this century, so was not left floundering by the unexpected topic.

"I have."

"Well, he may have more in common with my Science Officer than just name. They are one and the same, or rather, Ambassador Spock is my Spock from the future. Or an alternate universe's future, it's complicated," Kirk explained clumsily. "Anyway, when I went over to the Vengeance with Khan, the Enterprise's Spock contacted Ambassador Spock and asked if he had even encountered Khan Noonien whatever in his universe. He had, and said he was the most dangerous man the Enterprise ever faced, and that he would kill every one of us if he had the chance. That's why we can't give him the chance."

That was not what Kati had been expecting. When she had first arrived in this time even the simplest of things seemed like they were out of a science fiction novel, they were so far advanced from what she was used to. The feeling had faded, but now returned in full strength, now _time travel_ was on the table. And alternate universes. The theories had been around in her day, and she remembered the playful debates she and her augmented family had had about the concept and the possibilities. Now the concept had become real, the possibilities needed consideration.

"Was that all?"

"What do you mean 'is that all?', did you not hear me mention time travel. Alternate universes." Kirk was looking at her like she was crazy, like the very mention of those things should be enough. Perhaps it was for him, but not her.

"Yes, I did, but it seems to me that it was less of an answer and more a source of more questions. So perhaps I should clarify; was that all the information Ambassador Spock gave you about the Khan of his universe? No details about the circumstances of their encounter?"

"No. He's not very forthcoming with details about his universe." Kirk admitted, settling down a little now he knew he was being taken seriously. His glass was getting low, and he stood briefly, but not to fill it. Things were getting too serious for dulled senses, so he deposited his glass by the bottle and sat back again. "I'm surprised Spock got that much out of him."

"He's right to be reticent. His universe may seem like the future of ours, but it cannot be the same. Presumably his very presence here has altered the course of our universe from his." Kati pointed out, following suit and putting her empty glass back on the table.

Kirk nodded. "Vulcan wasn't destroyed in his timeline. Romulus was, or will be, and Starfleet didn't act. That's why Nero came here to destroy Vulcan and Earth. I believe they are now looking into the structural integrity of Romulus to make sure the same doesn't happen here."

An interesting revelation. She was coming to understand the Captain more as he talked, piecing his words together like a puzzle. One thing that had always been clear was his need to carry the weight of worlds on his shoulders, much like her Lord. But this explained why; he had saved earth but been unable to save Vulcan, the home of his crew mate and friend, despite knowing in another universe it lived on. He carried it like his own personal failure, and it drove him never to allow a similar disaster to strike again. It was why he had violated the Prime Directive to save the primitive tribes on Nibiru. The knowledge could be useful, though not right now. She pushed it aside and carried on with her point.

"Precisely. And who knows how many other small ways our worlds differ. The Khan he knew could be different, and how would we know without the details? Was it still Marcus who picked him up? Or someone worse? Or what about further back, to the Eugenic Wars of that timeline? Any small differences to his experiences may have radical effects in terms of his motivations and reactions to situations. They are two separate people who have lead two separate lives, you cannot judge one by the other." It was an important thing she needed to impress upon him, and yet she couldn't hold Kirk's eyes as she said it. He was turned away, scratching at the back of his neck and pulling a face. Her words rang true, it made perfect sense, and it made him uncomfortable that he hadn't seen it himself. And there was still a stubborn part of him clinging on, refusing to let go of the concept that Khan was the bad guy.

"Ambassador Spock judged me on the Kirk he knew from his universe. He knew I'd be Captain, and that Spock and I would be friends, as unlikely as that seemed at the time. He wasn't wrong about me." He argued.

"The you from this universe," Kati rejoined without a beat. "If there is one alternate universe there are likely to be others. And if you believe in infinite universes you have to believe that any variation is possible in them. You and your counterpart from the Ambassador's universe may have chosen similar paths, but somewhere out there there could be a James Kirk who is not so righteous. In another universe Kirk, not Khan, could be the greatest adversary to the Enterprise."

"I think that's a bit far fetched." Kirk scoffed, leaning back and folding his arms.

"Is it?" Resting her forearms on her knees Kati leaned into the void he had created and pinned him with her gaze. "You were quite a rebel in your youth were you not, before you joined Starfleet? With a gaping void for a father figure just waiting to be filled. Christopher Pike filled that void in this universe and helped you become the man you are, but what if it had been someone else? Someone with more nefarious intent? What if it had been Admiral Marcus, to shepherd you into the ranks of Section 31 and lead his war?"

She needn't continue, all the defiance had melted out of Kirk as he faced the facts. His shoulder were hunched in on themselves as he stared at the floor blankly. Though she couldn't see very clearly at this angle, a few emotions that played across his face were obvious; regret, sadness... and finally anger.

"You're right, Pike was like a father to me. He was a good man." His eyes rose to hers, startling in their intensity. "And Khan killed him, in cold blood."

"And there it is." Kati sat back, her triumph toned down by compassion, but evident none-the-less. Every battle had its decisive moments, every army with its key components that could at any time grant victory with its success, or defeat with its fall. But many years of experience had taught Kati that whether the final blow actually fell or not was irrelevant; if you had the king piece truly cornered, the battle was already won. Kirk's king was out in the open now, and it was a simple matter to pin it down. "That's the real reason you're here, trying to make sure Khan never sees the light of day, isn't it? Why, even when you tried working with him and he gave you every indication of loyalty, you were just waiting for an opportunity to cut him down and call it self-defence. No matter what reasons he had, no matter how much evidence is presented of his good motive, you will never get over the fact he killed your father figure. You are emotionally compromised, you have no objectivity in the matter, and that's why you are not fit to judge. Leave it to the professionals."

A few beats of heavy silence followed her conclusion. The emotional charge in the room seemed to ripple as Kirk got to his feet, and moved slowly to the window. The low light of the setting sun rimmed him in its faintly red glow, but his features were hidden from her. Looking down at the rubble, she imagined he was formulating his next argument, and so was surprised by the soft rasp of his voice.

"You're right." He cleared his throat, and continued in a more level tone, "You're right, I'm not over Pike's death yet. I'm angry, so angry and I keep going after Khan, but it doesn't seem to do any good. Hell, even punching that bastard in his smug face didn't help - though I'm not saying I regret it." He turned back to her, a melancholy smile praying about his lips. "I am 'emotionally compromised', as Spock would say. Hey, you sure you're not a Vulcan? I mean you look human enough, but damn if you don't sound like him sometimes."

"I'm not a Vulcan." She chuckled slightly in return. She was relieved he had finally come around, and had to admit that despite the heavy battle of wits they'd just struggled though, his continued playful nature and friendly disposition was warming her to him.

A more hopeful smile blossomed on his face, like he knew what she was thinking and was considering resuming his original plan to seduce her. His steps back towards her supported that theory... until he stopped. His expression froze, eyes glazing over with deep thought, and Kati knew she was in trouble.

It was a stupid mistake, confirming what she was not but not following up with affirmation that she was human. It wasn't even a lie; she may be augmented, but beneath it all was human nonetheless. But leaving it open like that had left a question in Kirk's mind, that his infamous 'gut' was only too ready to fill. Attempting to backtrack now would never work, only heighten her guilt, and so she was trapped, with nothing to do but await his verdict.

His eyes worked their way up from her feet to her face, taking in the physical perfection of her body, no longer with admiration, but the realisation of what it truly meant. It was not good genetic fortune, but a design feature, meant to beguile the unwary like himself. His gaze lingered at her lips, but not for a chance to taste. No doubt he was remembering how similar to Khan's her speech patterns were, realising that her accent was more than just English, but slightly antiquated too, from the time they had come from. He was surely going over their conversation also, remembering her unquestionable loyalty to Khan, and that one moment when she had hinted at how equally dangerous she could be. The puzzle pieces were all there, waiting to be assembled, and if he was half as smart as she suspected he should be getting there right about... now.

He reached for his phaser.

* * *

AN: _I wasn't sure whether to make this and what happens next one big chapter or two little ones, but in the end I couldn't resist the cliffhanger. Sorry not sorry. I'll try to get the next chapter done as soon as possible though ;)._

 _Thanks to all my loyal and lovey followers, and to Sassiebone, Shadowing, GoDrinkPinesol624, Kat, Celestial Alignment (welcome back to you), tenfangirl and JediGemini for your comments, you really keep me going. See you all in the next chapter._


	10. The Whole Truth

**Chapter 10 - The Whole Truth**

Kati stepped back, looking dispassionately at the unconscious Captain bound at her feet. She wasn't sure exactly how long the stun setting on a phaser was supposed to last, but guessed he should be waking up soon. She had him on the floor at the end of the bed, arms stretched out and bound at the wrists to the legs of the heavy piece of furniture. She had opted against the chair - knowing far too many ways to escape such a bind herself - and against securing him similarly to the headboard, as she was certain he had far to much experience in that position for very different reasons. The position he was in would probably strain his shoulders and back a little, and perhaps his neck as he craned to look up at her, but he'd live.

She could have killed him. Probably should have. He had proven time and time again he was an enemy to her kind, and his latest reaction to her was only further proof. His knowledge of what she was made him even more dangerous to their plans than he had already been. The risk in letting him walk out of here with that knowledge was far greater than the risk of suspicion created by him turning up dead in the middle of Khan's trial. She could easily make it look like an accident, or a relapse from the radiation poisoning. She even had a plan for it worked out in her head, which is more than she could say for her course of action in keeping him alive.

And yet she couldn't shake the feeling that Kirk was the key. If she could convince him of their cause, she could convince the world, but if she couldn't there was no point continuing to try. Admittedly stunning and tying him up may not be the best first impression for the real her, but she needed him to listen, and if this was the only way so-be-it. So she poured herself another whiskey, pulled the chair around to face him, and waited for him to wake.

Unlike the tranquillisers from her day, the stun seemed to wear off suddenly, without any remaining grogginess. Kirk's eyes snapped open, alert and wary, and he immediately tried to get to his feet. When his wrists pulled him back, he appraised the bindings, and seeing there was no way out, let his legs go back out from under him. Feigning nonchalance, he finally met her eyes.

"Well thanks for not killing me, I guess."

"You're welcome."

"So why didn't you? I mean I have to assume there's a reason, I imagine me knowing what you are is a pretty big problem for you." He mocked, with seemingly no regard for his personal safety. It was a front of course, the attitude. He knew he was hopelessly at her mercy, and so was attempting to snatch back some dignity some with a facade of control. The false confidence didn't lessen the genuine resolve underlying it though, which was what Kati was eager to crack. One thing at a time though.

"Generally it's the person not tied up who asks the questions in this kind of situation." She reminded him.

"Sorry. Guess that's my ' _rebellious youth_ ' talking. You go ahead."

She sipped her whiskey, drawing out the moment. Only when he was itching to fill the silence did she speak up. "I guess we should start with what you _think_ you know. About me."

"You're like him. Khan. You're an augment, one of the the 72... or 73, I guess. Did Marcus wake you, or did Khan?"

She raised one eyebrow, and remained silent.

"Right, you're the one asking the questions. Anyway, Marcus or no Marcus I'm guessing you've been nothing but loyal to your leader. Smart plan, making yourself his lawyer so you can fix the trial. I hope I'm not the only one getting the irony of you lecturing me about objectivity."

"Lawyers are not objective, they're all biased because they want to win." Kati pointed out. "It's the judge and jury, who make the final decisions who need objectivity to remain fair. If I'm supposed to be 'fixing' this trial as you say, why would I not have made myself one of them?"

"How the hell should I know, it's your plan, not mine." Kirk protested, his ploy to pull the information from her obvious. Little did he realise that was exactly what she wanted. He was more likely to believe her if he thought he had dug out the information himself.

"It's because I'm not here to win battles or cases, Kirk, I'm here to win hearts. It may surprise you to hear that we do believe in justice, my kind. When Khan united the Earth after the first Eugenic War, he encouraged the people to set up a worldwide justice system." A system that ultimately turned on them, true, but that didn't underpin it's necessity. "I know your history books probably leave that part out, as they do most of the good we did. Far easier to justify what they did to us if they paint us as villains, but I assure you that is far from the truth."

"Yeah? Well in my experience the villains never believe that's what they are, they all believe they're heroes making the hard calls." Kirk retorted icily.

"Yes, Kirk, they do." She stared at him pointedly.

"Oh, so I'm the villain now?" Kirk laughed. He was looking at her like she was insane, and she knew she needed to act quickly before she lost all chance to convince him to really listen to her.

"You're dangerously close to becoming one. Consider your actions, first you beat an unarmed, unresisting captive, then you draw a phaser on an innocent woman in her hotel room, simply out of suspicion she's the same species. And your continued belligerence about the trial would condemn another 72 untried innocents to imprisonment, for no crime other than existing." She ticked his offences off on her fingers. "This level of xenophobia, if left unchecked, could easily culminate in genocide. Tell me, Captain, deep down, how troubled were you before your Doctor revealed that they had removed Khan's people from the missiles before blowing them up?"

"Greatly. Troubled." Kirk emphasised, deeply insulted by the insinuation he wouldn't be. She believed him, of course, she had never thought he wouldn't be. He was taking her seriously again though, and that was what mattered, though he hadn't given up fighting yet. "And you keep throwing around the word 'innocent' like you and your people aren't escaped convicts in your own time. War criminals, in fact."

So he'd been doing his research, she wasn't surprised. But this was a battle she'd been preparing to have in the courtroom for months. Having it with Kirk was just a warmup.

"Even if that were true, neither the statute of limitations, nor maximum prison sentence for our so-called crimes exceeds the amount of time we've spend imprisoned in our own escape pods. We've more than served our time. And, 'convicted' and 'guilty' are unfortunately not always the same thing. Certainly not in this case."

"I thought you believed in justice?" Kirk reminded her.

"When it is served correctly, which it was not for us. Our 'lawyer' was biased the wrong direction, he didn't lift a finger to defend us. None of us were allowed to speak in our own defence, or anyone for us. We didn't stand a chance. And now history is set to repeat itself, Khan is on trial for crimes forced upon him, and he isn't even allowed to be present. I asked for a member of our people to be awoken as a character witness, and that too was denied. If not for my presence we would have no voice, yet again. Does that sound fair to you?"

Kirk was uncomfortable with the question, it showed on his face. "It's not ideal, but I wouldn't call it unjust. It's not like Khan hasn't given us reason to be cautious. I mean look what happened when he slipped Marcus's leash for a day or two, he blew up an archive and shot up a room full of Starfleet Officers."

"You have it wrong, Kirk." Kati shook her head. "When Khan was 'off Marcus's leash', as you put it, all he tried to do was get our people out. When he was caught, one of ours was killed as an example, and Khan was commanded to do the things you just said in punishment. To be the catalyst for the war he wanted to stop. He told me himself."

Even mentioning McPherson's death caused a ripple of sadness and anger to sweep through Kati. She thought she had kept it well contained, not allowing any of it to show, yet the way Kirk was looking at her... it was like he knew.

"I'm sorry for your loss," he began gently, before his argumentative side kicked back in. "But that makes no sense, why would Marcus have him shoot on a room he would be in?"

"Because he knew what an expert marksman Khan is. Did you not stop to wonder why most were only knocked out or superficially injured? If Khan had been shooting to kill, not one of you would have walked out of that room alive. But his instructions were to scare and injure, and he dare not falter from it and risk more of our own."

Kirk's eyes glazed as he remembered that day, searching for the truth of what she was saying. But they soon darkened with sadness and Kati knew what was on his mind.

"What about Pike? If Khan is so good, why couldn't he stop himself killing him. Or are you going to tell me ' _accidents happen_ '?"

And so they were back here, back to Christopher Pike. Kirk wasn't going to let this one go any time soon, so Kati was going to have to face it head on. He already knew this much, and if he was going to have the truth, then he may as well have the whole truth.

"It wasn't an accident." She told him, in her softest tone. "It was a necessary sacrifice."

Kati had seen many men and women caught up by rage in her time. Wars had a way of bringing it out of people. It was never pretty, but this was something different; it was heartbreaking. Something about the knowledge that Pike's death was deliberate and planned ripped the wounds wide open again, possibly even worse than before. Speech momentarily flew out the window as an enraged cry broke forth from Kirk's throat. He strained against his bonds, fighting once more for freedom with reckless abandon that did nothing but chaff his wrists. It was less than a minute until it passed, the man left panting and sagging from his ties.

"Necessary. Necessary for what?" He finally spat out.

Kati didn't answer straight away. He wasn't ready to hear it. So she poured a little more whiskey into his abandoned glass and slid down to kneel in front of him, holding it before his face.

"Drink."

"Why, what's in it?" He accused venomously.

"It's the same whiskey we've been drinking all night," she snapped back, "To take the edge off a difficult conversation."

His glare didn't lessen, but obediently he tilted his head towards the glass, pursing his lips at its edge. Gently she tipped it towards him, letting him drink it at his own pace until he was done. Getting back to her feet, she put the glass back on the table and went to the bathroom in search of lotion. The small bottle provided was more for scent than medication, but it would still soothe his wrists somewhat. He was still eyeing her suspiciously as she came out, and craned his neck to watch as she sat on the edge of the bed behind him. He flinched his hand away as she took hold of it, but with nowhere to go had little choice but to surrender himself to her ministrations. Gently she worked the lotion beneath the binding, massaging it into his chaffed skin. As she worked, she began to talk.

"Was Pike the kind of man who would sacrifice his life for another's?"

"Without question."

"Then doubtless he would also have given his life to save hundreds, or even thousands, whether he knew them or not."

"He would. But-,"

"I know it should not be down to any man to make that decision for another. It's not fair that Pike died not knowing what he died for, or having a choice in the matter. But he was not the only one out of options. My lord had gone too far, and all his other options had failed him. He knew the instructions Marcus had given him would lead to his death, the death of his people and be the catalyst to a war he had hoped to prevent. He examined all the options, and knew _you_ were the only one who might be inspired to take on the missiles, but not fire them. And the only way to ensure you would volunteer for the job, would be Pike's death. If not you it would be a contracted killer who would not hesitate, and many lives would be lost in the ensuing war."

"Like he cared about that. Maybe it was the only way to save his life, and his people, but I don't believe for a second that it had anything to do with the greater good." Kirk insisted. He had stopped trying to watch her and instead spoke to the empty air. Some of the tension was easing away under her fingertips, but she still had a long way to go. She gracefully slid across the bed behind him to the other side, starting on the other hand. This one was pliant, with no resistance.

"You don't know him like I do, Kirk. The way his mind worked. He could be very patient, he knew how to play the long game. If the only lives he cared about were his own and his people's, he would not have chosen that time to attempt to free them. It would have been far easier to play along and wait for the war itself. If Khan has not shown his hand when he did, Marcus would have had no reason to turn on him. He would not have attempted to dispose of his greatest asset, before the war; he needed him to greatly. He would have found another way to trigger it, and Khan would do nothing but prove his worth, rising through the Starfleet ranks, perhaps even getting his own Command. Then, something would happen, something to finally make Marcus realise that war is not a beast that can be tamed, with any amount of preparation. And Khan would be waiting with the answer; 'Free my people. We can win this for you.' And Marcus wouldn't hesitate. Perhaps we would have helped end the war and earned our place, or perhaps we would have taken the ship and left humans and Klingons to it. Either way, we would have had a far greater chance of success allowing the war than trying to stop it. Which leaves the question, why didn't he chose the path of least resistance?"

It was a question she had asked herself many times since events unfolded. The scenario she had outlined for Kirk had played over and over in her dreams, haunting her with its simplicity. As much as they hated war, it was at least a setting they were familiar with, that they were trained for. While the work to become a lawyer had been easy enough for her superior mind, it was still unfamiliar territory, outside of her comfort zone. The tangle Khan's plan had got them into sometimes felt impossible to unwind, and she found herself longing for an easier way. She was glad to be behind Kirk, so he couldn't see her face as she put into words the path she wished her Prince had chosen. If he could see the longing there, see how readily she would have thrown worlds into chaos to ease her own struggles, then he would truly have seen the monster within her. She let go of his hand, as if afraid her inner darkness could contaminate him by touch.

"Perhaps there was something wrong with that plan. Besides morally, I mean, perhaps it wouldn't work? Maybe Khan could foresee something that you can't." Kirk suggested, though his tone with riddled with uncertainly.

"No, Kirk. Khan's tactical skills may be superior even to mine, but only by a hairsbreadth. He and I were the best tacticians of our kind, it is how I earned my place at his left hand. And that strategy I suggested? Child's play. I calculated the margin for error, and it was inconsequential. We would execute far riskier without blinking an eye. The problem, as you do correctly pointed out, is moral." She couldn't sit any longer, she needed to move. She walked slowly out in front of him, hands gesticulating haltingly as she continued. "Despite everything you humans have done to us, from the cruelties of our creation, tricking us into fighting the second eugenic war, the farce of that first trial and our exile. And now Marcus's manipulation in this century. Despite it all, Khan still believes it is our duty to save you from yourselves. When it comes down to saving your kind or ours, he would defy everything to try and do both." This was the core of her problems, this was why she was condemned to struggle through this mess. Khan had made it his duty to carry the world on his shoulders, and she would carry it with him, even if it meant carrying him as well. It was a bittersweet relief putting all this into words, bringing forth all the emotions she had pushed aside for so long in the name of duty. Her eyes watered and though she tried to resist, a single tear slipped down her cheek. She turned away from Kirk to hide it. "He's a good man. I just wish you could see it." She closed her argument.

He was quiet behind her, but she dared not turn to analyse his face. She was spent, she had laid everything bare for him, fought though what felt like hundreds of arguments. If he didn't accept now, she was not sure she had the strength the go on fighting.

"Are you going to tell all this to the court tomorrow?" Was the last question she was expecting to hear from the young captain. She turned back to face him in surprise.

"Are you joking?" She couldn't help but ask, though his face was the picture of seriousness. "For starters I'm a lawyer, not a witness, it's my job to ask the questions, not testify."

"You can't do both?" Kirk asked, genuinely curious. She opened her mouth to dismiss it outright, but her education got in the way.

"It's not without precedent," she admitted, "But it's not as easy as that either. There's procedure to these things. And besides, how am I supposed to explain most of that without admitting what I am to the whole court?"

"So tell 'em." Kirk shrugged, flabbergasting her once more.

"They'll arrest me!" She exclaimed, "My case will be thrown out, all my hard work-,"

"You don't know that," he tried to assure her. "I mean, it's not like they have any evidence you've done anything wrong, they can't arrest you just for being what you are, can they?"

"Says the man who drew a phaser on me when he found out."

"That was just a precaution." He grimaced, attempting to justify himself. "I wasn't actually going to use it."

"And a precaution is what they'll call it when they lead me off in chains." She insisted.

"Okay, maybe." Kirk gave in. But the fool had the light of hope in his eyes now, and an earnestness on his face that no good could come of. "But maybe that's just something you have to let happen to get where you want to go. Because even if that does happen, and you can't fight for your own freedom, yet alone your people, you'll have something else you didn't have before. You'll have me. And I will vouch for you, I will pull every string I have and do everything in my power to set things right. I will make sure your people have a voice and a fair shot, I promise."

Kati could see now why Kirk was such a good Captain. It was a good speech, hit all the right notes. But more than that, it wasn't just words with Kirk. The intent to follow through was clear, he was nothing but honest in his promises. He hadn't promised anything beyond his own capability, no vague assurances that her people would all be free and have everything they desired, just that he would do his best for them. She believed every word. That was the problem.

"Is this an ultimatum?" She asked, seating herself in a businesslike fashion. He may be in a chair and he may be on the floor, but now they were nothing but equal, hammering out the terms of an agreement. "If I don't tell them what I am, you won't help us?"

He wanted to disagree with that, it was clear in his face. He wasn't the kind of man to hold a people's fate over their heads like that. But he wasn't stupid either, he too could sense the power exchange going on here, and so chose his words carefully.

"I'd call it a strong suggestion. We're both looking for reasons to trust each other here, Kathryn. We've already established you won't kill me, and you can't keep me tied up here indefinitely. All I have to give you is my word that I won't tell anyone your secret until you are ready. If you let me go, and you get to that courtroom tomorrow and no one tries to arrest you, then you know I'm as good as my word. And you know I'll do what I say about your people. What you do to prove to me I can trust you, I leave in your hands."

He left it so open. The lawyer part of her could dance circles around his words, extending a basic meaningless gesture to make him trust her and saying she had fulfilled her end of the bargain. And yet she knew she wouldn't. She knew that with such trust placed in her, she would do anything for this man. There was only one other who made her feel such devotion, and she hadn't forgotten about him.

"What about Khan? You say you will help my people, do you include him?

Kirk winced, and it tore Kati apart. This could be the deal breaker. She may have convinced him of Khan's good intentions, but she could never take away the fear. It was one thing to ask him to stop fighting them, another for him to help Khan's people, and yet another to ask him to stand in defense of the man who had technically killed him. Kati knew what she had to do. He might agree to it in words now, but if he walked away and thought better of it...

She had a leap of faith to take in the morning. There could be no doubt. If he was the only thing standing between their people and freedom, Kati knew what Khan would have her do. She opened her mouth to withdraw the question.

There was a knock on the door. Two heads turned to it, and then back to each other.

"Are you expecting anyone?" Kirk whispered.

"No." Kati answered, with a strong feeling of déjà vu. She ran over the same list from earlier, now one suspect shorter. She really hoped it wasn't the James woman, tonight had been stressful enough. "Just a minute!" She called, getting up and stepping towards Kirk.

"What are you gonna do, throw a blanket over me?" He half joked. She rolled her eyes and crouched down to his level. With ease she snapped his bindings with her bare hands, causing his eyes to bug at her raw strength.

"I'm going to trust you." She said, backing up to give him room to stand. "Are you alright going out the window? There's a fire escape one room over."

"Sure." He said with false confidence, probably remembering how far up they were. "Not my first time sneaking out of a window, at least this time I have all my clothes on."

They shared a quick smile, before he turned to go. She glanced at the door, decided it could wait one more minute, and grabbed Kirk's arm. He turned to look at her without an ounce of fear, only curiosity.

"Kati. My real name is Kati. You should know if we are to trust one another."

"A pleasure to meet you Kati." He accepted with a smile, taking her hand from his arm and kissing the back of it. "Good luck with that." He nodded cheekily to the door on his way out.

She let him go without a backwards glance this time, focussing her gaze now entirely on the door. Her mystery caller was still out there, she could hear the heartbeat. Female, elevated. She braved herself for another difficult confrontation and opened the door.

At the sight of messy red curls, she relaxed entirely. Marla stood outside her door, a coat thrown over her pyjamas and an anxious look on her face.

"Why?" Kati asked, resisting the urge to giggle.

"It's been two hours, you didn't call me back!" Marla moaned, walking in as Kati stepped aside for her. "You looked so serious when you were going to answer the door, I was worried something bad was going to happen. You could have let me know everything was okay. It is okay, isn't it?" She hesitated, seeing the ripped ties on the floor and looking back at her friend.

"I hope so." Kati sighed, looking past her at the curtains flapping in the breeze. Kirk was gone, and with him he carried the fates of her and her people.

* * *

 _AN: There we go, didn't want to keep you waiting too long for this, so worked as fast as I could. Sorry for any resulting grammatical errors I didn't spot. Speaking of errors, it came to my attention while writing this chapter that I have repeatedly in this story used the term 'first mate' rather than 'first officer.' I haven't gone back to fix the old chapters, but shall endeavour to get it right from now on._

 _Thanks again for a wonderful bunch of reviews, shoutouts to kyro232 (Captain lover machine had me giggling for days), Sassiebone, Kat, Shadowing, Junesun, Crystalvixen93, Celestial Alignment and athousandroses. Also thanks to those who just followed or favorited or just generally lurk in the shadows, your support keeps me going. See you in the next chapter._


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